Municipalities agree on fire dept. budget

The Village and Town of Belgium boards unanimously approved the Belgium Fire Department’s 2027 budget on Monday that carries a 3.75% increase.

The budget is $178,250, up nearly $7,000 from this year’s $171,800.

The Belgium Fire Department is a private organization that contracts with the two municipalities for fire and rescue coverage.

Among the increases are raises for first responders from $10 an hour per call to $13 per hour. Their pay had been static for years, Fire Chief Pat Wester said.

Officers also got a bump in pay. The chief’s annual salary went from $2,000 to $3,000 and the assistant chief from $1,000 to $1,500. Other officers received $100 salary increases.

Building maintenance increased from $12,000 to $16,500. Wester said he wants to put a storage closet in the bay and a stairway to the attic.

The $6,000 for fire inspections was removed since the department is doing its own inspections and not hiring a contractor for the service anymore.

The budget breakdown has the Town of Belgium paying $101,156, or 56.75%, and the village paying $77,093, or 43.25%. The split is determined by equalized property value.

Town Chairman Tom Winker said that percentage should change in the next year or two after the town goes through a state-required property revaluation since it is more than 10% out of compliance of full market value.

“I can tell you this is wrong,” he said of the percentages. “But we have no leg to stand on because we’re out of compliance.”

The town used to pay closer to 52% of the budget.

Wester presented a capital plan for purchases outside of the annual budget so the town and village can earmark money to buy the items on schedule. The next major purchase is slated to be two bay furnaces for the firehouse in 2029 for an estimated $40,000.

Reducing fleet from three to two engines

Wester addressed the idea that the department could get by with two engines instead of three.

A study done in spring of the Belgium, Fredonia and Waubeka fire departments showed they are equipment heavy.

“It’s something that’s definitely on my radar,” Wester said. “We just want to do it in a good economical way for the taxpayers.”

Belgium has a new pumper truck it ordered in 2025 that is scheduled to arrive in 2028. It will replace a 1995 pumper truck.

Wester said the lead time on trucks has increased during the past several years, likely due to a shortage of materials and possibly workers.

The department’s other two pumper trucks are slated to be replaced in 2032 and 2041.

Wester said he found a 12-year-old engine for $265,000 in an auction that would fit perfectly into the rotation and save the taxpayers $800,000 over 15 years, but he didn’t have authority to buy it. It was already sold by the time Monday’s meeting was held.

He asked if the municipalities were interested in allowing him the flexibility to buy a truck up to a certain amount.

The village supported the idea. The town did not.

Winker said the town is still paying off two loans and state road funding continues to decrease.

“This is an option that’s out there that could’ve been a huge savings to taxpayers,” Wester said.

Tepid response to collaboration

The fire department study, done by McMahon Associates and led by a retired West Bend fire chief, addressed ways the Belgium, Fredonia and Waubeka fire departments could better collaborate to share million-dollar engines and not duplicate trucks in their fleets, as well as staffing shortages.

“The No. 1 question is what’s the advantage to doing collaboration and what’s the vision of it,” Wester said.

The departments have enough firefighters for now and are more concerned that collaboration might cause some of the longtime members to resign. Wester is also concerned it may lead to paying for full-time staff.

“That, to me, is going backwards,” he said.

“I think it’s working great the way it’s working now,” former fire chief Dan Birenbaum said.

Winker said he thinks there would be financial benefits to some sort of collaboration between the three departments.

The three departments have already merged their paramedic-level coverage and offer it 24/7 to address shortages of volunteers.