News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Alpena Fire Chief Bill Forbush uses sticky notes to show how the city would staff city and Alpena Township facilities if a proposed contract with the township would have been approved last year. He said the city could still provide fire and EMS services today for nearly the same terms.

ALPENA — The Alpena Fire Department could provide response services in Alpena Township today for nearly the same contract terms as proposed last year.

That’s what Alpena Fire Chief Bill Forbush said Thursday after several trustees for Alpena Township said the city couldn’t man and operate the two township stations for the $400,000 fee that was considered.

Forbush was quick to point out that, as of now, there are no talks with the township about revisiting the contract. Forbush added he is unsure the Alpena Municipal Council is still supportive of the idea after the township voted the initial agreement down.

He said the fact remains the city fire department can provide improved services to township residents for less money than the township can.

The proposed contract for $400,000 would be adjusted by 2% up or down depending on the rate of inflation. There was a $475,000 cap on what the city would be paid. The contract would have been for five years with an automatic five-year renewal.

Last year, the contract, however, was defeated in a four-to-three vote.

The Alpena Fire Department has three primary revenue streams that make up the department’s budget. It receives about $1.5 million from ambulance billing, nearly $1.1 million from the city’s general fund, and an additional $940,000 a year from the county’s ambulance fund, which pays the city to respond to county-wide medical calls.

The amount of money the city gets from the ambulance tax is key because it helps to pay for staffing and gear that the city utilizes county-wide; expenses the township would have to pay for out of its own pocket.

Forbush said managing the township’s fire service is more about logistics than money, because the city already has the staff and equipment in place to handle the responsibility. He said the city is capable of affordably staffing and running the township’s two stations because the ambulance contract with the county sets staffing and ambulance minimums, which is enough to cover both departments.

“It’s about moving our resources around,” Forbush said. “Instead of having everyone stationed in the city, we would have an advanced life support unit and two employees at each township station. It also shortens the time it takes our ambulances to travel to areas north and south in the township.”

Forbush said inflation and rising costs are an issue already, and if a new contract were to be explored, the former one may need to be tweaked to adjust to the current inflation rate. He said the township would also face the same rise in costs if they continue to operate its own department.

During the township’s fire workshop on Wednesday, some trustees and employees of the township fire department speculated the city didn’t have enough employees to handle city, township, and county duties.

Forbush said for a spell, the department was understaffed, but it is now well above the minimum staff requirements for the ambulance contract. He said currently, the city can run three eight-man shifts daily.

“We don’t have to add any people, we’re not adding any trucks, we’re not adding anything,” he said. “We’re just strategically increasing our footprint and moving two rigs to a different station. How could we not have been able to do that for $400,000?”

Because the city has the means to adequately cover the township now, at little or no cost, one might wonder why the city would require payment, especially since residents pay the ambulance tax. Forbush said the city has to charge the township some sort of fee because the city taxpayers can’t subsidize township operations.

“It would be unethical and illegal to provide services outside the city without being paid by people outside the city,” he said. “It can’t cost our residents money to serve someone else, so there has to be some sort of buy-in to the program.”

Currently, township property owners pay 1.5 mills — about $75 a year for the owner of a $100,000 house — for firefighting operations and will pay that tax through 2027. The township says despite that revenue, and several hundred thousands of dollars allocated to the department from the general fund, more funds are needed to adequately staff and operate the department.

In November, the township will again seek a 3-mill tax increase that would cost the owner of a $100,000 house about $150 a year and raise about $1.1 million a year to fund operations and equipment at the Alpena Township Fire Department.

The township would levy the property tax for six years. The request was defeated during the August primary election by a vote of 1,446 to 1,191.

The township’s fire workshop Wednesday was scheduled to begin formulating what the fire department’s mission is, and what changes need to be made should the millage pass or fail.

Although nothing was decided, some ideas that could be considered if voters don’t approve the new tax include transitioning the department to a volunteer force or paid-on-call response, cutting services, trimming hours of operation, and cutting the hours of staff.

No residents attended Wednesday’s workshop, but the township is expected to host others in the coming weeks.