Politics & Government

17 Percent of NSFD Budget Comes From Whitefish Bay

Whitefish Bay will pay 17.25 percent of the fire department budget shared amongst the seven North Shore communities, after approving a three-year agreement.

Whitefish Bay will pay 17.25 percent of the North Shore Fire Department's budget for the next three years.

NSFD is a shared service among seven communities: Bayside, Brown Deer, Fox Point, Glendale, River Hills, Shorewood and Whitefish Bay. The fire department doesn't have any taxing or borrowing authority, so each of the villages it serves contributes a percentage of funds for the fire department's operating and capital budgets.

Five years ago, NSFD moved to a fixed fee formula so muncipalities would know what to budget for every year. The freeze ended this year, and NSFD proposed a permanent fee schedule.

Find out what's happening in Whitefish Baywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

While the Whitefish Bay Village Board approved the fixed percentage proposal in July, village officials in Fox Point and River Hills voiced numerous concerns with the fairness of the funding formula and formally requested a three-year sunset clause, eliminating the permanency of the funding formula.

The NSFD Board of Directors agreed to the three-year sunset clause, expiring the agreement at the end of the 2015 budget year.

Find out what's happening in Whitefish Baywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Whitefish Bay trustees were receptive to the three-year sunset provision at Monday night's Village Board meeting, voting once again to approve the NSFD funding formula resolution.

Fox Point and Shorewood have also approved the agreement and other North Shore communities are expected to follow suit.

Here's a breakdown of what each municipality will be contributing:

Municipality Proposed Percentage Bayside 6.2 Brown Deer 17.69 Fox Point 10.31 Glendale 28.16 River Hills 2.94 Shorewood 17.45 Whitefish Bay 17.25

 

The percentages are based on three main components:

  • Population of each municipality;
  • Equalized Valuation based on improvements, excluding land, which is determined by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue for the previous year;
  • Usage of the fire department for emergency incidents, averaged over three years.


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