Everything you wanted to know about Weston's Fire Fee proposal
And why people aren't happy about it
UPDATED: Gaylene Rhoden got back to me and so I included her response, which is worth reading for those in Rib Mountain.
When I heard that a fire fee was proposed for the village of Weston, I knew it was something residents were going to be concerned about.
The village held an information meeting that ended up clocking in at two hours. It’s online, but two hours is a lot for most people. I watched it so you don’t have to and can get the information in a much shorter span of time (plus I’ve kept up with the board meetings around this too).
Here is everything you need to know about the proposed Weston fire fee:
How much is it? The fee for most houses would be around $52-54, in the example Weston leaders provided, and over $800 for many businesses. There’s a formula based on a sliding fee scale based on square footage and number of buildings that makes it hard to give an exact answer.
Why? Basically, the village will have a shortfall next year and is also very short-staffed in the number of firefighters they have on hand. They tried recruiting volunteers, but that didn’t work out. Right now there are only two firefighters on staff covering one engine, and they would like to increase that. The lack of firefighters is one reason the village’s ISO rating decreased, from 3 to 4 in the areas with hydrants and 5 to 8 in areas without. That means a substantial increase in residents’ insurance rates, says the district’s fire chief, Josh Finke. One resident in the non-hydrant area saw an insurance bill go from $500 to more than $1,100 annually. Chief Josh Finke said they would request a re-evaluation if there are more firefighters.
About that firefighter recruitment… At play is a grant that the village is submitting to help pay for nine firefighters. But the village still needs to pay a percentage: 35% the first two years, 65% the third year, then the full cost after that. That reduces the sticker shock in the early years, but eventually Weston and Rib Mountain will have to completely cover the costs of nine firefighters. Which leads to…
Will the fee increase in subsequent years? By all accounts, probably. Finke says he runs a pretty tight ship with SAFER Fire District, so there isn’t much to cut except for staffing, and that is definitely not happening since they’re already short-staffed. And with costs going up, and the district eventually needing to pay for all nine new firefighters, Weston officials definitely didn’t rule out further fire fee increases.
(Finke shared that SAFER’s budget is more than $2 million less than Marshfield’s, which has more staff and similar call volumes.)
But… Weston leaders say if they add the fee, they have to reduce the levy by a certain amount. The fee goes on the tax bill but it is not actually a tax. Also, some residents thought there already was a fire fee. But that’s a utility fee separate from this.
Why not just add it to taxes? That’s because municipalities in Wisconsin are limited to how much they can increase the tax levy by the percentage of net new construction. So the village doesn’t have the capacity to increase enough to pay for the new firefighters without the fee.
Why not go to a referendum? Residents at the information session were not happy about this. As Finke discussed with the board at its last meeting, as well as at the information meeting, the funding source needs to be solid for the department to apply for the grant. Without it, accepting the grant but then later turning it down for a lack of funding would likely make it difficult to get grants in the future. That makes it difficult to delay the fee by going to a referendum next year.
Residents at the meeting pointed out that the village could have acted sooner in order to have put the referendum on the April elections ballot this year. Former board member Jim Pinsonneault said these concerns should have been communicated to the board much earlier. One resident called the meeting a “dog and pony show” and said the outcome seemed like it had already been decided anyway.
What about Rib Mountain? Weston leaders said the village has the capacity to cover the fire fee, so that is unlikely to happen in Rib Mountain like it is in Weston. The Wausonian reached out to Village Administrator Gaylene Rhoden to double-check if that was accurate or not. UPDATE: It is, but there is more to the story. Rhoden confirmed that the village has hired Ehlers Financial Services to review potential fire fee options. That would not happen in 2026, but it is being reviewed for potential use in the future, Rhoden confirmed. “Rib Mountain does have levy limit capacity due to debt adjustment,” Rhoden says. “Net new construction continues to be a challenge as growth has been under 1%.”
Why can’t you just use TIF? Finance Director Jessica Trautman said the state walked back valuations in TIF Districts and so they’re expecting to get far less money from their TIF Districts - they were hoping to close TIF District No. 1, but will have to wait another year because it’ll now take longer to pay off the debt. (If they closed before the district was debt-free, that would go on the taxpayers to cover.)
The board has not yet approved the fire fee. The Wausonian will be watching the board’s agendas.
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There is misinformation being put out there about insurance rates related to the fire protection class. Going from a 3 to a 4 would be so minimal you would not notice. Going from a 5 to an 8, on average, $50-100 a year at most. I'm being very generous with the $100 change in premium. Something else happened with that residents bill that generated that much of a change. You cannot spin a narrative of an increase and blame it on that change. As an insurance agent reading this, it's laughable. If the home stayed at a protection class 5, they still would have experienced the large rate increase that occurred. I have been an insurance agent for over 27 years.
The village is conveniently leaving out, and the media is failing to cover the fact that this tax will nearly double in year three and triple in year four.