Staff photo/Jane Howard Tofte Fire Chief Rich Nelson standing in front of one of the rescue squad’s vehicles. He gave a tour of the fire hall Monday, January 11, 2010 before a meeting of Schroeder and Tofte town representatives to discuss the cost of shared First Responder services. Nelson, CCHS class of 1981, has been volunteering for the department since he was a teenager and has a 17-year-old son signed up for upcoming firefighter training. He helped construct this building when he was in eighth grade. He pointed out the department’s 5,000-gallon tanker, made by local volunteers. It combined a refurbished logging truck, a fuel tank previously used for a jet engine, and a tank welded together onsite that holds three times the amount of water regular tankers can hold. Nelson also pointed out the department’s ladder truck, the only one on the North Shore outside of Duluth.
The Schroeder town board asked a question that seems to be coming back to bite them. As a two-year renewal date approached on its contract with Tofte for First Responder services, the Schroeder town board asked the Tofte town board to justify an increase from $5,000 to $6,000 a year. Tofte investigated what it really costs for its rescue squad, and it’s a lot more than either township had figured.
On Monday, January 11, 2010, Tofte Supervisor Paul James, Tofte Clerk Barb Gervais, and Tofte Fire Chief Rich Nelson went over the figures with Schroeder Town Clerk Carol Tveekrem. Thecosts were broken down into five categories: building, vehicles, supplies, training/dues/subscriptions, and radios.
In 2009, Tofte spent $9,928 on heat, electricity, insurance, and snowplowing for the fire hall and the town hall and insurance for a storage building on the Sawbill Trail. Supervisor James figured the Rescue Squad represented about 1/5 of the cost. Not included, however, was the cost of the building itself and equipment insurance.
James called Lake Region Storage, a company in Duluth that rents out buildings, and was told that it charges $.67 per square foot per month for heated buildings, snowplowing included. At this rate, the 1,000 feet taken up by Rescue Squad vehicles and equipment would cost $670 per month, or $8,040 per year.
Rescue Squad vehicle costs were $5,054 in 2009, including $3,000 set aside for future vehicle replacement. Supplies totaled $5,455. Training, attendance at meetings, dues, and magazine subscriptions totaled $1,577, and the cost of radio equipment was estimated at $800.
The Tofte representatives figured the cost of maintaining the Rescue Squad was almost $21,000.
Rich Nelson pointed out that maintenance costs are ongoing. “It never ends on vehicles,” he said. Grants have benefitted the department a great deal, allowing the purchase of much-needed new equipment. “We’ve been very fortunate the last two years,” Nelson said. “That’s going to dry up with the economy. [Rescue Squad Chief] Louise [Trachta] is very good at getting grants.” Not counted in the costs, he said, are jackets, hats, and patches given to the volunteers to recognize their efforts.
“Schroeder would have been way better off to accept our offer,” Supervisor James said to Tveekrem. “We’ve never sat down to figure this stuff out. …We thought we were being fair to you.”
Tveekrem said she thought the Schroeder town board might take issue with the costs they had estimated for the Rescue Squad’s portion of the building. James said now that they have looked at the figures, he realizes the arrangement has been a hardship for the Town of Tofte, and he couldn’t justify asking Tofte to pay Schroeder’s share of First Responder services. “It’s not a disputable number,” he said. “We’re going to pull our offer off the table.”
Would Tofte take into consideration the difference in population between the two towns? “The calls are pretty much split evenly,” said James. Schroeder is free to assemble its own rescue squad, he said, although sharing services is cheaper.
The group talked about how hard it is to keep enough volunteers on the Rescue Squad and the Tofte and Schroeder fire departments. “It’s getting harder and harder getting people to commit,” Nelson said.
Tveekrem said she wishes Schroeder could offermore volunteers. She admitted that Schroeder gets more taconite money than Tofte and said that Schroeder would pay to train its residents for the Rescue Squad.
Clerk Gervais will write up a revised Rescue Squad agreement for Schroeder.
The process of examining costs “was kind of an eye opener for everybody,” James said.
Schroeder’s response
The next night, at the Schroeder town board meeting, Carol Tveekrem reported on what she had learned in Tofte. “Louise [Trachta] pulled together a lot of numbers,” she said. “We should have taken them up on the six grand.”
Schroeder supervisor Roger “Bill” McKeever took issue with Tofte wanting to use the $8,040 price quoted by Lake Region Storage since that price would include a profit.
Last year, Tveekrem said, Rescue Squad calls were even between the two townships, but she thinks Tofte tends to receive more calls and Schroeder’s population is smaller. TheU.S. Census Bureau estimated Schroeder’s population to be 218 in 2008 and Tofte’s, 261.
“You hate to start a war,” Tveekrem said. “We need to cooperate with each other. We have to in order to survive.”
Schroeder Fire Chief Phil Bonin speculated that Schroeder’s questioning of Tofte’s Rescue Squad costs didn’t sit well with the Tofte board.
Roger McKeever said that Schroeder had given Tofte some equipment donated to Schroeder by Minnesota Power in Taconite Harbor and that Schroeder paid for one of Tofte’s Rescue Squad trucks with the understanding that Schroeder’s name would be on it, which never happened.
The Schroeder town board will bring up the shared cost, which will be over $10,000 for each township, at the annual town meeting in March.
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