Concerns about how much it will cost to provide fire and rescue service to the westernmost fifth of Kasson Township dominated discussion at this year’s Kasson Township Annual Meeting.

KASSON TOWNSHIP residents attending their Annual
Meeting on Saturday morning consider a new budget
that will contain a big hike in payments for fire and
rescue service in a portion of the township.

The township spent $88,500 during fiscal year 2007-2008 to provide fire and rescue service for the entire township through contracts with the Solon-Centerville (Cedar) Fire Department and the Empire Fire Department. In the fiscal year that began on April 1, however, the annual cost was expected to rise about 28 percent to $123,000 – entirely because of an increase in fees from Empire Township.

Empire Township, which has been working with Glen Arbor Township for several years to provide around-the-clock advanced life support ambulance service to residents, will this year add an additional fulltime crew of paid, professional paramedics and firefighters. The department will begin operating jointly with Glen Arbor as Glen Lake Fire and Rescue throughout Empire’s coverage area.

The additional fulltime fire and rescue staff in Empire – and the additional 24/7 capability offered to a portion of Kasson Township through Glen Lake Fire and Rescue in Empire – is expected to cost Kasson Township an additional $35,000 this fiscal year.

“It’s a heck of a jump and it would have been nice to know about it sooner,” said Kasson Township supervisor Fred Lanham, who has served as a volunteer firefighter for Empire Township for many years. He said it was possible that the township would need to establish a special assessment district or consider a special millage to pay for fire and rescue services sometime in the near future.

Township clerk Kathlyn Feys said that as soon as she learned about the fee increase from Empire Township, she asked Solon-Centerville fire chief Albin Rosinski about the possibility of having the Cedar Fire Department provide coverage for all of Kasson Township instead of just the eastern four-fifths.
Rosinski was unable to provide an immediate answer, however.

Feys said fire and rescue coverage for Kasson Township has been split between the Cedar Fire Department and the Empire Fire Department since at least the 1980’s.

During a public hearing on the township budget, resident Glen Noonan said he believed a demand for additional services from some residents was driving up costs, and that “there should be something more centralized in the county” for emergency medical services. Noonan added that he felt Kasson Township should not “capitulate” to Empire Township’s demand for more money.

Although township residents attending an Annual Meeting only have the legal authority to approve or disapprove salaries for elected township officials, Noonan offered a motion during the budget hearing that the township’s budget leave out the additional payment for fire and rescue services from Empire.

“We’re between a rock and a hard place,” said Feys. “Because we had so little time to react, there’s nothing else in place for next year at this point.”

Trustee Tom Triebes noted that if the budget were approved without the funding in place, it would leave a substantial number of township residents without fire and rescue coverage.

Trustee Roger Noonan added that he believed the township was obligated to accept the current agreement with Empire Township, but should work to come up with a new arrangement for next year.

Glen Noonan then withdrew his previous motion and moved that the budget be adopted as presented. The township board, along with the 17 other Kasson Township residents in attendance at the meeting, unanimously recommended adoption of the budget in a voice vote.

No pay raises were included in the budget, which had very few changes from last year except for the increase in fire and rescue funding. Total revenues for the current fiscal year were estimated at $219,027, about one-percent more than estimated last year, and six percent more than actually collected.

Expenditures were projected at $261,350, about five percent more than last year. During fiscal 2007-2008, the township spent $48,000 on legal fees related mostly to a lawsuit involving a local sand and gravel firm. Legal expenses were expected to go down by more than half this year, to $20,000; although overall expenditures were expected to be up because of higher costs for fire and rescue services.