Fire truck purchase to hinge on town residents

Town of Belgium residents will hear a presentation from Belgium Fire Chief Pat Wester at the April 15 annual meeting about the department’s truck replacement schedule and the need to buy a new pumper truck that could cost around $950,000.

The fire department and Belgium Village Board wish the numbers had been shared earlier.

Last week’s joint meeting of the town and village boards and the department became heated when town officials said they weren’t ready to help pay for a new truck since they hadn’t shared the plan with residents and the town will be paying off a loan during the next two years for paving Silver Beach Road.

Officials at last fall’s annual fire department budget meeting — the department is a private organization funded by the town and village of Belgium — agreed to delay the discussion about replacing the 30-year-old pumper until spring.

The department held the meeting Feb. 26, but only the village was ready to make the purchase.

“Before we do anything, we’re going to pay that loan off. We wouldn’t be up to borrowing any money for two years,” Town Chairman Tom Winker said of the Silver Beach Road project.

“I’ll just be honest, that’s quite disappointing,” Wester said, “because we’ve been giving you this truck replacement schedule for the history of the department. I think as a village taxpayer it’s disappointing we’ve been saving money for it and now we have to wait for the town to catch up.”

Village Treasurer Vickie Boehnlein said the village has enough money to pay for its share of the truck, but it would have to borrow for future purchases in the next 20 or 30 years.

That model of pumper isn’t made anymore, so if the main computer board goes, it would cost $80,000 to replace it and would require a custom part.

The department looked into refurbishing the truck but that would cost $500,000 and doesn’t address engine or chassis work.

Winker suggested buying used.

“I farmed 25 years and I bought one new tractor,” he said.

“This,” Wester said, “is a completely different animal. This is a fire service and there are not used apparatuses out there.”

Paying for the truck upfront would save about $140,000. Wester was told the price will go up in May, but the town officials said they aren’t ready.

“I didn’t come tonight figuring I was going to buy a fire truck. I just didn’t,” Winker said.

“What did you think this meeting was about?” trustee and fire department member Sarah Heisler asked.

Former Fire Chief Dan Birenbaum said the town hasn’t gone along with the truck replacement schedule for 45 years.

Supr. Tom Bichler said he got 10 calls in a couple of days, all opposing the purchase.

Supr. Bill Janeshek said, “If you’re going to ask people if you should raise their taxes to buy a new truck — I’ve been on the board for 28 years — we know the answer.”

Boehnlein noted the differences in budgeting processes. Village boards determine their budgets, while town budgets are determined by residents at annual elector meetings.

The Town of Belgium’s annual meeting is April 15, and the town is already asking for a levy increase to cover emergency medical services in a joint effort with the villages of Belgium and Fredonia and Town of Fredonia. They have already approved the plan.

Wester will present the fire department’s plan to the town to see if residents want to pay for the pumper. The department and town and village of Belgium are slated to meet on April 21 and could vote to buy the truck and still get the discounted rate before the May price increase.

At Monday’s Town Board meeting, Janeshek said the town hadn’t kept residents in the loop on the truck replacement schedule.

“It’s been this way for a long time and I guess it was always kind of something that we’ve had the schedule, we see the schedule, we just kind of hope the schedule goes away,” he said. “These are big-ticket items.”