The City of Brownsville, Minn., held a special public meeting September 26 to share information about the history of the fire service for Brownsville and parts of Brownsville and Crooked Creek Townships.
Brandon Frank, training officer for the Brownsville Fire Department started off the meeting with a brief history of the fire service since 2014. The city recorded the meeting and broadcast it via Zoom.
Frank shared that funding for the department comes from the state through Fire Aid, Houston County, the townships, and the city of Brownsville.
Since 2014, the township of Brownsville has paid the same flat fee, $5,000, and the township of Crooked Creek has paid $500. When Frank asked, “Why do we charge the townships what we do?” the response was “that’s how it’s always been.” Apparently, there has been no communication between the city and the townships about the fire department over the years.
Frank’s next question was, “What should we be charging them?” To answer this question, Frank contacted the State Fire Marshal in Minneapolis. The State Fire Marshal’s office along with the League of Minnesota Cities and the Association of Minnesota Townships have devised an equitable formula.
Frank also contacted other area fire departments to ask how they deal with this. He learned that Eitzen was a non-profit entity, not owned by the city; the city and townships share costs based on their populations. In Spring Grove, the townships purchase and maintain fire trucks and equipment needed for use in the townships.
Caledonia charges a flat fee to townships with a $400/hour charge for any calls to the townships. Both La Crescent and Hokah use the model formula suggested by the state. A sample agreement is posted on both the League of MN Cities and Association of MN Townships websites.
The formula uses the number of calls to each area, the value of structures in the areas, and the population of the areas to find percentages compared to the whole district. The three percentages are then averaged to find a percentage that the area should pay for fire service.
Frank said about half of the calls were to the city, a quarter to a third of the calls were to Brownsville township and the remaining one-sixth to a quarter calls were to Crooked Creek Township.
The value of structures in Brownsville Township was 32% of the total; in Crooked Creek Township it was 5% of the total; in Brownsville it was 63% of the total.
Populations of the areas were more difficult to determine since not all of Crooked Creek or Brownsville Townships are included in the Brownsville Fire District. Frank counted the houses within the district and used a population average per household to determine the district’s population.
The formula calculations showed that Crooked Creek should be responsible for 6% of the budget, Brownsville Township should pay 26%, while the city of Brownsville should pay 68%.
Last year’s fire department budget ($50,693) was higher than usual due to the purchase of four “new to us” fire trucks, Frank pointed out. Usually the budget is at around $40,000.
The state recommends that a written contract should be used; this would provide a trail of reasons for decisions made regarding the fire service. It would prevent situations such as the recent one between Crooked Creek and the city. Crooked Creek had levied $500 for fire service each year for several years, but Crooked Creek cannot pay unless they receive a bill. The city of Brownsville had no procedures or policies to send a bill to Crooked Creek. As a result, Crooked Creek collected the money levied, but did not send it to Brownsville.
Having a contract would only change the administrative part – not the fire department response. Frank assured the citizens at the meeting, they would receive the same service as before.
A yearly Fire District meeting would be held with the city and both townships attending; this year it will be November 1 at 7 p.m. in the Brownsville Community Center. In this way, better communication would occur between all three entities.
The fee for fire calls would be eliminated with each of the areas paying their fair portion of the expense of the fire department. The budget would be easier to build since the variable of fees for service would be eliminated.
Frank urged meeting attendees to go to their respective city council and township meetings to share their opinions. The city of Brownsville will be meeting October 4 at 7 p.m.; Brownsville Township will meet October 10 at 7 p.m.; Crooked Creek will meet October 17 at 7 p.m.
Questions and input from attendees of the meeting included the retired La Crescent fire chief sharing that the system recommended by the state was working well for them.
In answer to questions about levies, Frank responded that general fund levies are set in the city based on prior years. The townships set their preliminary levies in March the year before. The fire department plans for several years out for their budgets in August each year. Contracts would need to be renewed yearly.
Residents of the city can give input; the question was if township residents would have input also. The answer was that they would; the final decision making process would need to be determined.
Are grants applied for? Yes, the fire department has hired a grant writer since grants are tricky to navigate.
How many people are on the fire department and where are they from? There are 17 members – seven are from the townships. Frank welcomed all and any newcomers to the department.
To a question about mutual aid, Frank answered that they have mutual aid agreements with surrounding cities with no charges (except for Caledonia which charges $200/hour for any such calls).
A question about how no longer used equipment and trucks are disposed of was asked. Frank responded that the city posts it on Facebook, Craigslist, and their own website; sometimes items are auctioned off.
Ownership of the building, trucks and equipment is currently by the city. Potentially, this could change later with the Fire District owning the property.
Mayor Jean Meyer informed the assembly that Crooked Creek had signed a $500 contract for 2023 with the city at their last meeting.
The informational meeting ended with Brownsville Mayor Jean Meyer thanking everyone for their attendance.
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