County and Jackson Council adopt new Fire/EMS funding formula weighted across incident counts, population, staffing and fleet

TETON COUNTY — The Teton County Board of Commissioners and the Jackson Town Council on Thursday moved to change how the county and town split costs for Jackson Hole Fire and EMS, directing staff to amend the joint powers agreement to use four equally weighted factors — incident count, population served, staffing and fleet — each at 25%.

The county adopted the recommendation unanimously after staff presentations and exchanges with a national consultant’s report. “I move to direct staff to revise the FireEMS Joint Powers Agreement to utilize the weighted combined factors of incident count at 25%, population served at 25%, staffing at 25%, and fleet at 25%,” Commissioner MacKer said when she offered the motion. The county vote was recorded as unanimous.

Nut graf: Officials said the change responds to a consultant assessment and long-running concerns about fairness and sustainability in joint funding, and is intended to provide a stable, policy-oriented foundation for apportioning costs for emergency services rather than relying only on population or assessed valuation.

Why it mattered: Commissioners and councilors debated the rationale for each factor at length. Town officials and some council members pressed to include assessed valuation or to weight policy-controlled categories (staffing and fleet) more heavily, saying the town bears a disproportionate share of short-term call volume due to visitors and concentrated development. Mayor Jorgensen argued assessed valuation reflects rising service expectations locally; Commissioner MacKer and others countered that assessed values in Teton County are distorted by federal lands, resort property and non-local valuation patterns.

Data and disagreement: Commissioner Gardner pointed to the Fire/EMS budget history as a driver of the review, saying the joint fund’s expenses rose from about $4.8 million to roughly $10.38 million over several years and that wages, added full-time equivalents and capital explain much of the increase. Chief Mike Moyer and staff noted that earlier fund accounting (Fund 11, a dedicated fire mill levy) was consolidated into Fund 13 years ago and that an addendum will reconcile how prior years’ fund structures affect the consultant’s figures.

Several council members pressed staff for clarifications about potential "indirect costs" such as building maintenance, IT and other overhead; staff said a consistent methodology for indirect costs will be brought back in January and that indirects would likely be applied as a small percentage (staff cited 3% in examples) to the staffing factor rather than upending the chosen weighting logic.

Town vote and next steps: After further debate, the town council moved the same 25/25/25/25 direction. The town’s vote passed with three members supporting, one opposed and one abstaining. Town leaders signaled they may seek adjustments for future negotiations on other joint departments and asked staff to return with the indirect-costs methodology, timeline clarifications tied to the Memorandum of Understanding, and any legal questions about MOU reversion language.

What happens now: Staff was directed to prepare an amendment to the Fire/EMS Joint Powers Agreement reflecting the chosen weighting and to return with supporting calculations, the proposed indirect-cost methodology, and a redlined JPA for both bodies to approve. Several members noted the MOU includes a multiyear phase-in and provisions for negotiating department-by-department through 2031, and they asked attorneys to confirm the reversion rules in writing.

Votes at a glance: County — motion to revise the Fire/EMS JPA to the 25/25/25/25 weighting; mover: Commissioner MacKer; second: Commissioner Carlman; outcome: passed unanimously. Town — identical motion moved by Councilwoman Beeman; second by Councilor Schechter; outcome: passed 3–1–1.

Officials quoted: Commissioner Gardner urged the board to scrutinize the rapid growth in joint budgets: “That’s a 116% increase in 3 years,” he said during debate about historical budgets and included fund accounting changes. Chief Mike Moyer emphasized operational needs: “We’re gonna be most efficient and effective as a fire department, serving the community as a whole,” and staff noted that call-volume dynamics and added FTEs drove budget pressures.

The boards also asked staff to return with further technical detail on phased percentages, the indirect-cost proposal, and an accounting addendum to clarify the consultant’s historical comparisons. If the town or county wishes to revisit the weighting, members said, the MOU establishes negotiation paths and future review of other joint departments.