By Debbie Rogers
MILLBURY — Lake Township voters will decide in November on a 4.2-mill levy to fund a full-time fire department.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the trustees approved a resolution of necessity, starting the process for the Nov. 7 ballot issue.
“This is what we need to keep up with the demand,” said fire Chief Barrett Dorner. “We need to pay people to be here because the need is … constant.”
According to the Wood County Auditor’s Office, an additional 4.2-mill levy would raise $1.2 million and cost the owner of a $100,000 home $147 per year.
The levy, if approved, will be continuing, which is necessary, Dorner said.
To come back with a levy request every five or 10 years would be “gambling” with safety, he said.
The department currently handles around 1,600 runs a year and request for fire and EMS service is up 70% in the last eight years.
Trustee Richard Welling said that the levy is crucial.
There are two people on staff, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
They rely heavily on backup from neighboring departments, according to a fire study released earlier this year.
The department has four levies, which total 4.8 mills, for financial support. The 2022 operating budget was $1.5 million.
Total annual payroll is $795,000.
Volunteers still work for the department, but they are mainly available at night and weekends, which are the slowest times.
The township, Northwood and Rossford commissioned a study last year to look into combining fire and EMS operations.
According to the study, which was released earlier this year, Lake Township has 54 personnel, with some full-time positions and mostly paid-on-call workers.
Dorner and the trustees have said they still want to pursue the shared operations proposal. However, they believe that safety needs must be addressed immediately in Lake Township.
In other fire business, the trustees approved an automatic aid agreement with Perrysburg Township regarding fire equipment usage.
Dorner said this has been in discussion for years. It is the only neighboring area that the township did not have such an agreement with, he said.
“It just makes sense, we share such a large border with them,” Dorner said.
The trustees also accepted the retirement of Battalion Chief Ed Brown, effective June 15.
Corey Ammerman and Ben O’Neal, who are firefighters/EMTs, are also retiring.
