Colfax fire board sets budget of $112,700 for 2025, property tax levy of $94,700
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.
Editor’s Note: LeAnn R. Ralph serves as chair of the Town of Otter and as chair of the Colfax fire board.
by LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — The Colfax Community Fire District Board has set a budget of $112,700 for 2025 and a property tax levy of $94,700.
The budget of $112,700 and the property tax levy of $94,700 has remained the same for more than 10 years.
Gary Hill, Colfax fire chief, said at the October 10 meeting of the Colfax fire board that he had thought about increasing the budget slightly for 2025.
Mark Dietsche, representative for the Town of Grant, asked about Hill’s reasoning for an increase in the budget.
Hill said the budget has been the same for such a long period of time he was concerned that without gradual increases, residents in the fire district might see a dramatic increase in one year, which would be harder to budget for than gradual increases.
While it is true that the budget has remained the same for years, there has been surplus available at the end of the budget years. The surplus has ranged anywhere from $9,000 to $22,000.
The Colfax fire board has always transferred any available surplus at the end of the budget year to the equipment replacement fund.
The budget has also always contained $20,000 that automatically goes into the equipment replacement fund each year.
New fire engine
As of September 30 of this year, the Colfax fire district had accumulated $358,607 for vehicle replacement.
The Colfax fire board approved a contract for a new fire engine in April of 2023 at a cost of about $575,000.
Jessica Checkalski, secretary-treasurer for the Colfax fire district, said the $20,000 from this year’s budget had not been set aside for vehicle replacement.
Delivery of the new fire engine is expected in December of 2025 or January of 2026.
By the time the fire engine is delivered, the fire board is expecting to have about $415,000 from the budget allocations, the surplus from 2024 and interest earned on the principle amount in the equipment replacement fund, leaving the member municipalities with approximately$160,000 left to cover for the new fire engine.
The municipalities in the Colfax fire district include the Village of Colfax, the Town of Colfax, the Town of Grant and the Town of Otter Creek.
The municipalities pay the fire district expenses according to the municipality’s percentage of equalized value in the fire district.
Tax levy
For the 2025 budget, the Town of Colfax has 38.6 percent of the equalized value in the fire district and will pay $36,584 toward the property tax levy of $94,700.
The Village of Colfax will have 24.2 percent of the equalized value for the 2025 budget, and will pay $22,902 in property tax levy.
The Town of Grant will have 16.5 percent of the equalized value for the 2025 budget and will pay $15,648 toward the property tax levy.
The Town of Otter Creek will have 20.7 percent of the equalized value and will pay $19,546 in property tax levy.
The percentage of equalized value for 2024 was 40.5 percent for the Town of Colfax; 22.9 percent for the Village of Colfax; 16.5 percent for the Town of Grant; and 20 percent for the Town of Otter Creek.
In other words, the Town of Colfax’s percentage of the equalized value decreased by 1.9 percent, while the Village of Colfax increased by 1.3 percent, and the Town of Otter Creek increased by .7 percent.
The Town of Grant’s percentage of the equalized value remained the same.
Firefighter pay
At the October 10 meeting, the Colfax fire board also approved a pay increase for firefighters from $16 per hour to $17 per hour.
The Colfax fire department devoted about 1,400 hours last year for responding to calls, meetings and training, so the increase in the budget for firefighter pay would be about $1,400.
The fire board also approved increasing the pay for trainees from $10 per hour to $13 per hour.
Firefighters who are taking the initial training for certification are paid for half of the hours of the training, so that if the total training hours are 60, the firefighter trainee will be paid for 30 hours, Hill said.
A few firefighter trainees are on the roster, so the increase for firefighter pay will not be $1,400 since the trainees are currently paid $10 per hour to respond to fire calls and will be $13 per hour rather than $17 per hour, he said.
Members of the Colfax fire board expressed the hope that raising the pay for the trainees and the fire fighters might help the fire department maintain its roster.
Hill said that in recent years, the Colfax fire department’s roster has remained between 24 and 28 firefighters.
FEMA grant
The Colfax fire department has applied for a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the amount of $135,000 for air packs, Hill said.
The fire department has not yet received a rejection letter on the grant, although the fire department also has not yet received an acceptance letter, he said.
The cost of the grant writer to write the grant application was $1,500, but the grant writer will update the application at a cost of a couple of hundred dollars next year if Colfax does not get the grant this year, Hill said.
The Colfax fire department can continue to apply for the FEMA grant year after year until a grant is awarded, he said.
Fire calls
So far this year, as of the October 10 meeting, the Colfax Community Fire Department had responded to 16 structure fires, 13 car accidents and seven brush fires.
The Village of Colfax has had six structure fires, one car accident and zero brush fires.
The Town of Colfax has had one structure fire, eight car accidents and two brush fires.
The Town of Grant has had zero structure fires, three car accidents and zero brush fires.
The Town of Otter Creek has had one structure fire, one car accident and zero brush fires.
The Colfax fire department has given mutual aid eight times for structure fires, zero times for car accidents; and five times for brush fires.
