And then there were three.
Wheatland became the third Western Kenosha County municipality this month to authorize a referendum seeking to exceed the state imposed tax levy limit to support enhanced emergency medical services.
The Wheatland Town Board at a special meeting Saturday unanimously approved putting the question on the ballot for the Aug. 13 election, said town Clerk Donna Deuster. The board had earlier this month passed a resolution to proceed with a referendum, but the formal language was adopted Saturday.
The board is seeking to exceed the limit by $150,000 each year for the next five years.
The referendum is very similar to one passed by the Randall Town Board last week to also seek authority to exceed the limit by $150,000 for five years.
For 2024, Wheatland paid Twin Lakes Rescue $70,000 for EMS.
For 2025, Wheatland and Randall are choosing between a proposal from TLR that will include increased staffing of EMS crews and cost Wheatland $225,000 in 2025. Also under consideration is a proposal from Amblunz by DocGo that would cost the towns $215,000 each in 2025.
Twin Lakes also set a referendum this month for Aug. 13 seeking to exceed the levy limit by $526,436 each year for five years. Twin Lakes is committed to contracting with Twin Lakes Rescue moving forward.
Starting last summer, Randall, Wheatland and Twin Lakes and TLFR began exploring how to fund 24/7 station coverage for EMS out of the Twin Lakes station. There were some joint meetings and a $900,000 to $1 million cost estimated. Eventually a cost of $900,000 divided with Twin Lakes paying 50 percent and the towns each paying 25 percent was established. The plan then was for each municipality to hold a referendum in April to approve the needed funding. That timeline broke down over ironing out some details about who the new EMTs would work for and other details. The referendum target was switched to August. The Twin Lakes Village Board agreed informally to go ahead with an August referendum at a committee of the whole meeting last week.
More recently, TLFR submitted contracts to Randall and Wheatland with an approval deadline for April 15. The deadline was driven, TLR Chief Ron Redlin said, by the timeline for an August referendum. That deadline has since been withdrawn.
Both towns also had begun seeking other possibilities, such as private companies, for EMS service.
