Committee urges staff study of public-safety impact fees as housing pipeline strains services

City emergency officials told the Public Safety Committee on June 24 that a large development pipeline — roughly 1,200 apartment units cited by department staff — is already pressuring local police, fire and EMS services.

Jerry told the committee that EMS call volume is up about 17% year-to-date, that daily EMS calls increased from an average of 4.6 to about eight per day, and that unit-hour utilization is approaching 0.7 (meaning units are engaged about 70% of the time). He said the department expects to exceed 2,000 calls this year and argued the city needs to add staff and reliable space for additional crews; he named SAFER grants as one possible funding pathway but said local funding and facility space would still be required after the grant period.

Police Chief Brian echoed the concern, warning that increased population and call volume would pull officers from community roles (traffic enforcement, community-relations functions) into patrol and could make the department less able to provide the current level of service. Staff described a third-party shared-services staffing study (participation with McFarland, Stoughton, Fitchburg, Oregon and Brooklyn) that should provide comparative data by year-end and inform long-range staffing decisions.

After discussion of funding tradeoffs — referendums, reassigning general fund resources, or imposing development impact fees — a committee member moved and the committee voted to ask city staff to research options for imposing public safety impact fees on new development and report back. Members emphasized timeliness because many projects are already under construction and revenue from fees would be most useful if established before build-out.

Key figures and context cited in the meeting: about 1,200 apartments in the pipeline; EMS call-volume increase ~17% year-to-date; current average daily EMS calls rose from ~4.6 to ~8; staff said the city’s population is approximately 9,000; Ladder 3 (2007) will reach the NFPA 25-year guidance in 2032 with replacement estimates now roughly $2.5 million; remounting an ambulance was estimated to save about $100,000 versus a new chassis and box. The committee asked staff to return with options and data for council consideration.

Next steps: Staff were asked to research legal mechanisms, sample fee schedules used by peer Wisconsin communities, fiscal impacts, and possible phased approaches; the committee will keep the item on future agendas as staff develops recommendations.