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Decatur Board reviews township fire-contract calculations, staff proposes gradual rate increases
Summary
Staff told the Decatur City Board of Works that about 22% of fire runs occur outside city limits while townships currently pay roughly 10% of the Decatur Fire Department’s budget; staff presented scenarios raising township shares gradually and recommended boards revisit rates during the June budget cycle.
At a Decatur City Board of Works meeting, a staff member presented analysis of township fire contracts and recommended the board consider gradual increases to township reimbursement rates for fire protection.
The staff presentation said the Decatur Fire Department’s budget for the relevant year is $1,154,546 and that roughly 22% of the department’s runs are outside Decatur city limits while townships historically have covered about 10% of the budget under contracts in place since the 1980s. The staff member said those longstanding contracts have not been substantially updated and showed scenarios increasing township contribution rates in half-point increments from the current 9% to a maximum illustrated at 11% so municipalities could gauge potential impacts.
The staff member cited St. Mary’s Township as an example, saying two recent working fires in that township would have cost about $13,100 — a figure the presenter contrasted with the township’s prior annual payment level (about $12,000 before last year’s adjustments). “If 22% of the runs are outside of city and outside of city only paying for 10% of the budget, we thought, let’s look at these again,” the staff member said.
Board members discussed timing and process. Staff said budget work will intensify in June and that the municipal letter setting next year’s dollar amounts typically goes out in June; the board agreed a decision did not need to be made that day but asked staff to provide the scenarios and allow townships to review them. The board did not take a formal vote to change contract terms at the meeting; the item was presented for discussion and direction ahead of the June budget deadlines.
The presentation included run totals and a table of modeled township shares by percent; the transcript records the summary figures described above, but several numeric line items in the spoken record were garbled and could not be independently confirmed from the transcript alone. Staff invited townships to call or meet with city staff to review scenarios ahead of the budget process.
Next steps: staff will provide scenario documents to township officials and return for further discussion as part of the June budget schedule.
