Colfax Rescue Squad proposing budget of $784,234 for 2025
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
By LeAnn R. Ralph
Editor’s Note: LeAnn R. Ralph serves as chair of the Town of Otter Creek.
COLFAX — The Colfax Rescue Squad is proposing a budget of $784,234 for 2025, representing an increase of $164,750 over the 2024 budget of $619,484.
According to information presented at the Colfax Rescue Squad annual meeting September 26, the projected expenses by the end of 2024 will be $754,108, compared to $594,578 in revenue.
The proposed budget for 2023 was $511,000, and the increase from the 2023 budget to the 2024 budget of $619,484 covered raises of $2 per hour for Basic Emergency Medical Technicians, Advanced Emergency Medical Technicians, and full-time EMTs.
EMRs are paid $11 per hour, while EMT-Basic are paid $12 per hour, and EMT-Advanced are paid $13. The full-time EMTs start out at $15.50 per hour, said Chrystal Smith, director of the Colfax Rescue Squad.
In 2022. Colfax EMTs were making $7.25 per hour for EMT-Basic and $7.75 per hour for an EMT-Advanced.
The Colfax Village Board approved increasing the wages beginning January 1, 2023, from $7.25 to $10 per hour and from $7.75 to $11 per hour for the casual part-time EMTs and raising the wage to $13.50 per hour for the permanent part-time EMTs.
The Colfax Rescue Squad serves the Villages of Colfax and Elk Mound along with the Towns of Elk Mound, Colfax, Sand Creek, Grant, Wheeler, Tainter and Otter Creek.
Representatives from the Elk Mound Village Board, the Elk Mound Town Board and the Otter Creek Town Board attended the meeting.
Budget increase
The 2024 budget was not provided for comparison, so it was not clear what the increase of $164,750 from the 2024 budget to the 2025 budget would cover.
Some of the increase presumably would be over-time for the director and one full-time EMT as well as an increase in revenue and expenses associated with increased call volume.
The projected over-time for 2024 is $54,000, while the 2025 budget contains $56,500 for over-time wages.
The Colfax Rescue Squad has been experiencing difficulty in maintaining 24-hour coverage of shifts, even with 26 EMTs on the roster.
Some of the EMTs are listed as “reserves” who occasionally take shifts, according to the director’s report.
From 2023 to 2024
The increase from the 2023 to the 2024 budget was intended to accommodate having four full-time EMTs at the Rescue Squad, which includes the director and three full-time employees, as a way to alleviate over-time for the director.
Former Colfax Rescue Squad director Don Knutson, who resigned at the end of 2023 and took the position of clerk-treasurer for the Village of Wheeler, routinely worked 100 or 120 hours a week at the Rescue Squad.
The Rescue Squad has two full-time EMTs, in addition to the director, but one full-time EMT is out on medical leave, and the other position apparently is vacant.
No information was presented on what the difference would be between the cost for four full-time employees (the director and three EMTs), compared to the cost for the director and one EMT working over-time to fill in some of the shifts.
A full-time employee paid $15.50 per hour would make $32,240 per year.
Rates
No information was included in the report regarding the current and proposed rates for calls, such as the rate for an EMT-Basic or EMT-Advanced call.
In the past, rates for EMT calls and mileage have differed for residents and non-residents.
On a chart representing the amount billed for calls by month, the numbers were difficult to read, but the graphic indicated that the Colfax Rescue Squad received about one-third to one-half of the amount billed.
Call volume
The Colfax Rescue Squad had gone out on over 600 calls at the time of the meeting on September 26.
The projected call volume for 2024 is 625 calls.
In 2023, the Colfax Rescue Squad went out on 515 calls.
The Rescue Squad has responded to “significantly more calls” this year, Smith said.
The increased number of calls could be related to the closures of HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital, HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital and the 19 Prevea Clinics, she said.
The increased number of calls could also be related to a population that is aging, Smith said.
Per capita
The 2025 budget includes a proposed per capita of $45.64, which compares to a per capita of $40.02 in 2024, representing an increase of $5.62 per person.
In 2022, the per capita was $22.10 and increased to $27.52 for 2023, representing an increase of $5.42.
The 2023 per capita increase covered the wage increases from $7.25 per hour to $10 per hour; from $7.75 per hour to $11 per hour; and from $13.50 per hour to $15.50 per hour.
The per capita in 2021 was $17.67.
Since 2021, the per capita has increased by $27.97.
Smith said the per capita for surrounding ambulance services is around $65 but did not provide any specifics.
In 2021, Knutson provided information that Menomonie’s per capita was $21 with a $1 per year increase for the next three years.
The per capita for the City of Chippewa Falls for 2021 was $27.50 while the per capita for the City of Eau Claire was $23.
Assessments
The following amounts are proposed to be assessed to the municipalities in 2025:
• Village of Elk Mound — $48,242.34, representing an increase of $5,941 over 2024.
• Town of Elk Mound — $91,464.20, representing an increase of $11,264 over 2024.
• Village of Colfax — $53,308.48, representing an increase of $6,555 over 2024.
• Town of Colfax — $56,868.46, representing an increase of $7,125 over 2024.
• Town of Sand Creek — $27,703.98, representing an increase of $3,411.
• Town of Grant — $17,891, representing an increase of $2,204.
• Village of Wheeler — $15,051.83, representing an increase of $1,849.
• Town of Tainter (half of township) — $60,656.65, representing an increase of $7,470.
• Town of Otter Creek — $23,778.87, representing an increase of $2,928.
Roster
Here are the EMTs included on the Colfax Rescue Squad’s roster:
• Travis Borreson (EMT-Advanced).
• Michelle Briggs (Registered nurse).
• Nick Bruder (EMT-Basic).
• Scarlett DeLion (EMT-Advanced).
• Carrie DeMuth (RN; reserve).
• Rachel Drost (EMT-Basic).
• Brenda Falk (EMT-Basic; reserve).
• Addison Gray (EMT-Basic).
• Mercedes Hay (EMT-Basic).
• Jessica Holt (EMT-Basic; EMT-Advanced student).
• Peter Jain (EMT-Basic).
• Avery Kaanta (EMT-Basic).
• Robert Kelsall (EMT-Advanced).
• Mary Krall (EMT-Advanced).
• Desirae Laureson (EMT-Basic).
• Jerry Lofthus (EMT-Basic).
• Nate Makuck (EMT-Basic).
• Dawn Roberts (EMT-Advanced; reserve).
• Chrystal Smith (paramedic).
• Christine Solberg (EMR; reserve).
• Joe Solberg (EMR; reserve).
• Chloe Styer (EMT-Basic).
• Blaze Todd (EMT-Basic).
• Brex Todd (EMT-Basic).
• Kristi Welle (EMR; reserve).
• Autum Wildfeuer (EMT-Basic).
The report notes that the EMTs are students and/or work other jobs, which decreases the amount of time available to fill shifts at the Colfax Rescue Squad.
Travel time from home to the Colfax Rescue Squad ranges anywhere from five minutes to two hours.
The ambulance typically has an “out of the door” time of three to five minutes, but because of the size of the area covered, reaching the patient can take from 35 to 40 minutes, Smith said.
