Wausau - Committee endorses emergency fee hike

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Wausau - Committee endorses emergency fee hike

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Fri, Dec 28, 2001

Committee endorses emergency fee hike

By J. Wasson

Wausau Daily Herald

pwasson@...

The city of Wausau intends to increase fees charged to surrounding

towns for emergency services from $150 to as much as $700 per ambulance or fire

call.

The city's Public Health and Safety Committee unanimously agreed to

recommend the rate increases Thursday. The City Council will vote on the measure

Jan. 7.

The committee made the decision after Wausau Fire Chief

Buchberger said his crews are increasingly providing ambulance and fire services

outside the city.

" Usually it's a glitch in the system and it's only happened a few

times, " Buchberger said. " But it's a trend and it's continuing to grow. "

The city contracts with the towns of Wausau, Berlin, Easton, Texas,

Hewitt and Maine to provide fire and ambulance crews as a backup for volunteer

staffs for the towns.

The towns are required to send first responders, people trained in

primary first aid, to all medical emergencies and send fire trucks to all

vehicle crashes and fires.

Increasingly, towns are having difficulty fully staffing their

volunteer fire departments and are relying completely upon Wausau for service,

Buchberger said.

The city currently charges towns $150 when they don't send first

responders. If the city adopts the committee's recommendation, that fee will

increase to $500 and a $700 charge will be billed if a town doesn't send a fire

crew when required.

" I know I'm going to come out of this looking like a bad guy, "

Buchberger said. " I don't want to put additional burdens on the townships. But

my primary responsibility is to Wausau. "

Wausau City Council member Van De Yacht agreed. She said

towns appear to be " taking advantage " of Wausau's full-time services at the

expense of city taxpayers.

Buchberger said he will begin notifying towns of the proposed

increases immediately to give their representatives a chance to comment at the

Jan. 7 meeting.

If passed, the changes would take effect Feb. 1.

" We're protecting our own and looking out for the people of Wausau, "

said Public Health and Safety Comm-ittee Chairwoman Radtke.

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