What Happened?
The city of Wausau, WI, is investigating the potential sharing of fire and EMS services with neighboring communities to reduce overall costs and improve the quality of services to residents. Wausau hired third party consultants to research shared services opportunities in the region to determine current costs and possible savings.
The Goal
The consulting firm looked at fire and EMS functions in Wausau, Weston and Rib Mountain. The research aggregated costs and data on employees, building conditions, equipment, revenue and response times for each city’s departments.
Wausau is looking for an administrative move that will allow the cities to improve fire and EMS services by upgrading technology and resources, while lowering overhead costs and expenses associated with delivery of services to the community. Shared services models offer these benefits if executed effectively, and are becoming a growing trend nationwide for cash-strapped municipalities unwilling to sacrifice innovation.
Because fire and EMS services compromise a significant portion of a city’s budget, Wausau wanted to ensure shared services could offer both a short- and long-term benefit for sustainable efficiency. The consulting company evaluated the cost-savings opportunities of shared services with Schofield, Rothschild, Weston and Rib Mountain for the next 10 to 20 years based off projections in growth, population change and new service demands.
What the Report Found
The consulting firm’s report explained that full consolidation of fire and EMS services between Wausau and neighboring municipalities may not offer the greatest cost savings, a merger would make it drastically easier to deliver services to residents once boundaries were removed. It is recommended that Wausau pursue some form of cooperative agreement with neighboring fire and EMS departments to make better use of available resources with a strong focus on resident satisfaction.
Specific suggestions included:
- Shared automatic aid systems
- Coordinated pre-incident planning process
- Supervision over regional services rather than municipality
- Unified operating guidelines and procedures
- Training programs within the region
The study also evaluated for strategies involving varying levels of consolidation: total merging of all departments in the region and consolidation of different combinations of towns’ departments based on available resources, demand and capabilities.
Sharing Is Catching On
Cities in Wisconsin are not alone in considering the many benefits associated with shared services strategies. Cities nationwide are balancing their budgets by making fire and emergency services more efficient without sacrificing quality.
When examining many consolidation models from a strictly financial perspective, the savings are typically apparent and appealing to decision makers. Where controversy arises is when fire and EMS departments argue shared services threaten to weaken their capabilities to meet the needs of the community. While the platforms may paint a pretty picture in cost savings, those numbers have little meaning if departments are forced to underperform.
According to a study from Michigan State University, many fire and EMS departments are slow to see the benefit of consolidation strategies. This means local officials must conduct feasibility studies to demonstrate the value and generate support internally for the structural shift to ensure success.
All Together
Gov1 has stayed abreast of the latest consolidation news, and all the savings associated with these models.