for ambulance service fees and ….

for ambulance service fees and $20,000 for fire department service fees.

Anticipated revenues total $621,950, a 4.5 percent increase from this year. This matches the amount of money the district plans to spend in 2022.

Most of the line items on the expense side will stay the same next year, though training for EMTs will double, from $10,000 to $20,000 “That’s simply because we have a lot of EMTs who need to do their refresher course next year,” said board chairman Larry Oehmichen. “That’s where we’re going to have a jump.”

District chief Joe Mueller said many EMTs will take their refresher course in the fall of 2022.

“And they added another 10 hours to class,” he said. “It’s 40 hours now.”

Another line item that will jump is vehicle fuel, which is increasing from $12,000 to $20,000 from this year to next. Oehmichen said this was done because this year’s fuel budget has already been used up, so it’s safe to assume that more money will be needed at the pumps next year.

Oehmichen also pointed out that $50,000 is being allocated toward future equipment purchases, so the district is continuing to put money aside every year for big-ticket items.

New ambulance approved

Besides adopting a proposed 2022 budget, the board also passed a motion to purchase a new ambulance for no more than $211,000.

The ambulance to be replaced is known as Med 31, which is stationed in Dorchester and is the only one of the district’s three active ambulances that doesn’t have mechanically assisted loading to help with larger patients. The ambulance also has around 100,000 miles on it and is starting to rust.

“It is getting to be an older ambulance already,” Oehmichen said. If the district were to install a load assist in it for $30,000, the ambulance itself would be worth less than that in a few years “It would not make sense to do it,” Oehmichen said.

Mueller said the district can get a new ambulance with lift assist from the Braun company for less than what it paid in 2018 for its newest ambulance, which cost $216,557.

The seven municipalities will be asked to sign off on the purchase since it is over $50,000 in value, but no extra money will be sought to cover the cost.

“We won’t be asking anybody for any more money because we have the money (in savings),” Mueller said.

Once the ambulance is ordered, it will take 14 months to be built and delivered, and once it arrives, Mueller said he plans on stationing it at the Abbotsford station so it can be used by the day crew.

Dorchester’s station would then get the ambulance that is currently stationed in Colby, and the old Med 31 would come to Abbotsford as a backup.

Board member Dennis Engel questioned Mueller on whether the district really needs to hold on to an old ambulance that doesn’t have much value.

“If we make three trips with that a year, we don’t need it,” Engel said. “It’s not worth anything, but it still costs us money.”

American Recovery funds

Oehmichen said he did some research on the American Recovery Act funds and found out that municipalities can use them to train and equip local firefighters and EMTs. He asked that each board member go back to their municipality and request that 10 percent of their ACA money be turned over to the district.

The idea met with mixed reactions among board members, some of whom said their municipalities already have their ACA money budgeted for other purposes.

“I believe most of that money is spoken for already, because we’ve got a lot of projects going on,” said Abbotsford Mayor Jim Weix.

Representatives from the city of Colby and village of Dorchester both said similar things about their ACA money.

“The budget is pretty tight,” said Tom Carter of Dorchester. “They’ve got plans for that money.”

Township officials, on the other hand, said they are unsure of what they can use the money for because they don’t have water and sewer utilities, which are considered eligible expenses.

Pat Tischendorf from the town of Holton said townships have been told they “need to be very creative” in spending their ACA money, just as long as it’s well-documented in their minutes.

Oehmichen said he doesn’t want to see a situation in which townships have to return unspent ACA funds to the federal government after the spending period has elapsed.

Engel, however, questioned if the district truly needed the extra money since training and equipment is already included in its regular budget.

Oehmichen said the extra ACA money could be used specifically for recruitment purposes, which are needed to keep the district fully staffed.

Engel suggested deducting whatever ACA money the municipalities pay from their annual dues to the district. That way, they aren’t paying anymore for training and equipment than they normally would. He also said a specific plan is needed for the additional funds.

“I’m not against putting more money in, but we have to know where it’s going and for what purpose,” Engel said. “You can’t just throw money in a pile and let it sit there.”

Tischendorf made a motion to request 10 percent from the first half of ACA funds that municipalities received this year (a second installment is scheduled for 2022). It died for a lack of a second.

Board members said they want to wait for more information about how the ACA money can be spent before formally asking their boards and councils to hand over some of it to the district.

“Us as a township have no idea yet what we can use the money for,” Engel said. “I guess I’d be real reluctant just to let them do this right away.”

Other business

_ The district responded to 104 call between July 15 and Aug. 19, including 96 ambulance runs and eight fire calls.

_ Mueller told the board that the district’s safety officer is resigning as of the end of the month, so he will be looking for someone else to take that position. Among other duties, the safety officer oversees Fire Prevention Week activities at local schools in October.

_ The board approved a total of $13,617 in monthly department bills.