funding THE MHAJFD
Our eight municipalities we serve formed together under the Fire Protection and Rescue Service Agreement in 1979 to create the now named Mount Horeb Area Joint Fire Department. After final approval of each annual Department budget, the budgeted sum is raised by each of the municipalities upon the equalized valuation of the properties within the area served by the Department.
For 2025 we continue to experience staffing needs to keep our ambulances and fire trucks running out the door with crews.
Our Fire and EMS members include 60 volunteers and 10 full time staff members who responded to 1,844 emergencies in 2023; 954 emergencies in the first half of 2024. In addition to responding to calls, we perform fire safety inspections and reviews of businesses, teach Fire and EMS public education, attend training on ever changing skills, along with many additional assignments.
The increasing demands for our service have overwhelmed current staffing numbers to the point that we cannot guarantee a response to emergencies. We need more firefighters and more EMTs. We train to be ready to step up to help, but now we need to ask for help from our municipalities. For 2025 we hope to be able to patch some staffing holes by moving our full-time staff to a different schedule that will get us two people available for calls 24/7. To make this change we need to bring in some more part-time responders during the Monday to Friday daytime hours, when most of our volunteers are away at work. See the MHAJFD 2025 Operating Budget Request below. We are proposing a 3.9% budget increase. This document covers all changed categories, both additions and subtractions. All other budget categories remain unchanged for 2025. The 2025 MHAJFD Operating Budget is up for discussion and approval at our annual budget meeting on September 25, 2024. Each of our 8 municipalities will be discussing our budget at upcoming September board meetings.