A proposal to help fund Twin Lakes Rescue 24-hour staff was discussed by the Wheatland Town Board this week.
In late, August, Twin Lakes, Randall and Wheatland opened talks on how to create and fund full-time EMTs to cover those three municipalities on a 24-hour schedule. Currently Twin Lakes Rescue, a separate entity from the village of Twin Lakes, provides emergency medical services to those municipalities.
TL Rescue officials, facing increased difficulty in providing services with its volunteer and paid on call staffing, developed the proposal for Twin Lakes to hire six advanced EMT level/firefighters and a supervisor, who would be village of Twin Lakes employees, but work for TL Rescue. The EMT/firefighters would work 24 hours on, 48 off. The supervisor would have a more conventional Monday-Friday, daytime schedule, with some exceptions. Starting salary would be $55,000-75,000 depending on licensure, certifications, and position. While the new full-time EMT/firefighters would be village of Twin Lakes employees, TL Rescue would retain ownership of its building and equipment, including its ambulances. Up keep and replacement of that equipment would continue to be paid for through donations and billing for services.
The rescue squad estimates the cost of the new personnel to be $800,000 to $1 million.
Having full-rime personnel in the station 25 hours a day would dramatically improve response time, especially during nights and weekends.
Since a joint meeting Aug. 30 in Twin Lakes, Twin Lakes, Randall and Wheatland officials have been discussing how to move forward. That continued Monday for Wheatland.
In August, officials were talking about three referendums to fund their municipalities share. Further exploration of the finances has caused some exploration of perhaps funding from existing budget instead.
In Wheatland, authorizing additional tax authority through a referendum still seemed to be the preferred path at Monday’s Town Board meeting. Reasoning was that getting approval for additional taxing power through a referendum would secure the funding for the referendum’s term. If the town found money say next year to pay its share, the next year might be a different story, town Chairman Brett Butler said.
A referendum would likely take place in conjunction with the spring election in April.
Butler also reminded the board that the town is required to provide emergency medical services.
Wheatland Vol. Fire Department Chief Lou Denko said he also felt a refendum was best to lock in funding. While he says the three municipalities and fire departments do work together well, he added that he doesn’t see a viable alternative either.
For example, hiring a private rescue company could lead to back-up problems when multiple calls are happening at once, Denko said. Private companies often see a lot of turnover and individuals probably will lack local knowledge.
Another unsettled issue is how the three municipalities will split the approximately $1 million in estimated compensation cost.
At the August joint meeting, Twin Lakes village President Howard Skinner proposed a 40 percent for Twin Lakes and then a 30 percent split for Randall and Wheatland each. That split acknowledges that Twin Lakes, by having the EMS workers as village employees., would incur some additional costs beyond compensation.
Randall Chairman Paula Soderman at that time argued for a split based on population size. Twin Lakes has about 6,300 residents, Randall about 3,400 and Wheatland about 3,100.
In contracting with Twin Lakes Rescue for service, Twin Lakes currently pays $85,000 per year and Wheatland and Randall $60,000. Those fees would no longer be collected and that budget could be applied toward the cost for the full time EMS staff.
Another joint meeting of the three municipalities has not been scheduled. Twin Lakes has further discussion on its board committee of the whole meeting agenda on Monday. Randall discussed the topic in closed session on Sept. 14.
Moving forward, educating residents about the situation will be key to its success, Butler said.
“We will keep looking at options for advertising and how to get the word out on it,” Butler said.
