From excerpts of DailyChronicle.com:
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DeKalb County's ten rural fire departments have relied on free dispatching services provided by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office Communications Division ever since the county’s 911 system was launched. However, this longstanding arrangement is nearing its end. Over the past few months, Sheriff Roger Scott and other county officials have been working out a new fee structure for these smaller fire departments.
While only Cortland and Kirkland remain undecided about whether to pay the new fees, some, like longtime Shabbona Fire Chief Frank Ottengheime, aren't too pleased with the development.
"We pay taxes, county taxes, taxes on our phones, on our cell phones—seems like we're being taxed for the same service over and over," said Ottengheime, who has served Shabbona's all-volunteer department for four decades. "Our belief is that dispatching is an essential service and should be provided without extra charges."
Though these proposed fees coincide with the county's efforts to cut spending to balance its budget, Scott insists that wasn't the main reason behind the change. Instead, it was rural police departments that first suggested that fire departments contribute financially.
"Rural police departments have been covering these costs for years now," Scott explained. "The consensus among rural police departments was that fire departments should help offset the expenses for the police departments. This idea was presented to the County Board’s Law and Justice Committee back in 2015, and they worked on a revised plan involving the fire departments."
According to county documents, the rural fire agencies will incur approximately $26,000 in service costs by the end of the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. By 2021, that amount is expected to rise to around $30,000.
The county's eight rural police departments—Cortland, Hinckley, Kingston, Kirkland, Malta, Shabbona, Somonauk, and Waterman—will pay a total of $162,000 this fiscal year, records show.
The fees being discussed are relatively modest. For instance, the Shabbona fire board recently agreed to cover a $1,900 fee for dispatching services, which will see annual increases of 3 to 4 percent until 2021.
When distributed across homeowners in the district, the dispatch fee amounts to roughly 14 cents to $2 per $100,000 in assessed property value, based on county data. Shabbona’s fire district encompasses about 400 homes.
However, the dispatch fee adds yet another financial strain on volunteer fire departments already grappling with significant challenges. Volunteer firefighters in Shabbona earn $8.50 an hour, while paramedics receive $12.50. As the part-time chief, Ottengheime makes $3,000 annually.
"No one's getting rich fighting these fires," Ottengheime remarked. "For $10, someone gets up at 3 a.m., they're clearly not in it for the money."
The growing demands for training and other requirements needed to run an ambulance service are making it increasingly difficult to maintain a volunteer ambulance program. With the tax cap restricting what rural fire districts can raise in tax revenue, adding another fee could impact the equipment and training options available to fire agencies, Ottengheime noted.
Scott mentioned that he had explored various formulas during discussions to ensure fairness. Increases in the fees requested were linked to rising labor costs, which are governed by union contracts.
Regardless, Sheriff Scott pointed out that the free dispatching service was never an obligation of the sheriff’s office.
"Fire dispatching isn't a mandated responsibility for the sheriff’s office," he stated. "It’s an added duty. We have several statutory obligations, but this isn't one of them."
Currently, the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office handles dispatching services for most rural fire departments in the county. These services will carry new fees for departments, increasing by 3.4 to 4.1 percent annually until June 30, 2021.
**Fee Breakdown (as per the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office):**
- Cortland: $4,300
- Hinckley: $2,750
- Kirkland: $3,400
- Lee: $450
- Leland: $1,450
- Malta: $2,350
- Paw Paw: $200
- Shabbona: $1,900
- Somonauk: $5,950
- Waterman: $2,400
Thanks, Dan.
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