EMS to cost village $150K

November’s emergency medical services referendum is slated to raise the Village of Belgium’s tax levy by $150,000 per year in perpetuity.

The Village Board on Monday approved asking residents to increase the tax levy by $149,600 in the referendum, the wording of which trustees are expected to approve on Monday, Aug. 19.

The Finance and Personnel Committee recommended that total.

Village Clerk Vickie Boehnlein said it’s “our best guess of what it’s going to cost us” at this point.

That translates to an increase of $47 per $100,000 of assessed value on village residents’ properties.

That money, Boehnlein said, won’t be enough down the road. Expenses for salaries and benefits usually increase by 7% to 8% while the village’s state-allowed levy limit increase is around 2.5%.

“The increase we get every year on the levy limit is not going to keep up with the cost increases of all the expenses in the village,” she said.

The referendum, if approved, will pay the village’s portion of the new 24/7 paramedic intercept service between the villages and towns of Belgium and Fredonia. The Village of Fredonia is running the program and contracting with the other municipalities. The Fredonia Fire Department is the only municipal department covering the area. The Belgium and Waubeka departments are independent organizations.

Contributions to the paramedic service are determined by a municipality’s population, call volume and equalized value of property improvement.

The Village of Fredonia’s contribution is slated to be $174,233. The Town of Fredonia is expected to pay $105,097, and the Town of Belgium is estimated to pay $97,129.

The program was started a few years ago in response to longer response times and a shrinking pool of paid on-call volunteers. The vast majority of fire departments’ calls are medical, and the numbers are increasing.

Ozaukee County gave county fire departments money for EMS from the federal American Rescue Plan Act through a grant. Municipalities have to figure out how to fund the paramedic program on their own starting in 2026.