Fire Dept. budget rises 3.75%

The Belgium Fire Department is requesting an increase of 3.75% in this year’s budget.

“We want to add some storage in our station for some items that we have, and for people who respond to calls, we did increase their pay a little bit. Very little,” Chief Pat Wester said.

The total budget is $178,250, up from last year’s $171,800.

The town would pay $101,156 of that total (56.75%), and the village would pay $77,093 (43.25%). The amounts are determined by the municipalities’ equalized values.

The department is saving $6,000 on fire inspections since it does its own instead of hiring a company to do the inspections.

The budget requires approval by the town and village boards.

The Belgium Fire Department is a private organization that gets contracted for fire service by the village and town of Belgium.