Described as an outdated agreement, the Dexter Township Board has some ideas that they think could help update an important service it shares with the City of Dexter and Webster Township.
The Dexter Township Board discussed a series of proposed updates to the Dexter Area Fire Department (DAFD) Interlocal Agreement at their June 16 meeting. One of these includes a new cost-sharing formula designed to better reflect the modern realities of providing fire and emergency services.
The DAFD provides fire suppression, emergency medical services, rescue operations, and public safety response throughout Dexter Township, the City of Dexter, and Webster Township.
To better explain the proposals, the Dexter Township Board reached out to the Sun Times News (STN) with a statement about their ideas.
Dexter Township’s Proposal
The Dexter Township Board said their proposal “comes after six meetings among representatives from Dexter Township, the City of Dexter, and Webster Township to review the governing agreement for the department.”
“Despite broad acknowledgment that portions of the agreement are outdated, the discussions have thus far produced few concrete recommendations for change,” the Dexter Township Board said. “Following discussion by the Township Board, the proposed changes will be brought back to the intergovernmental working group as a starting point for meaningful reform.”
With their ideas, Dexter Township said the “most significant proposed change involves how operating costs are allocated among the participating municipalities.”
According to Dexter Township, under the agreement as it is right now “costs are largely apportioned based on the number of emergency service runs originating in each municipality.”
Dexter Township officials noted that methodology was adopted when DAFD operated primarily as a volunteer department and many costs were directly associated with responding to individual calls.
“The reality is this agreement is outdated, and using only runs as a metric for cost allocation is bad public policy,” Dexter Township Supervisor Lonnie Scott said in the township’s statement. “It allows large swings in the amount owed by each municipality from year to year, often in ways that are difficult to predict. More importantly, it no longer reflects how the department actually operates. Public safety is one of the paramount responsibilities of local government, and we should all want a strong foundational agreement rooted in sound public policy and the long-term stability of the department.”
Today, Dexter Township said the DAFD operates three fully staffed stations, and a substantial portion of its budget is dedicated to maintaining personnel, facilities, equipment, and response capabilities regardless of the number of calls received.
Under their proposed formula, 75 percent of the department’s budget would be shared equally among the participating municipalities in recognition of the costs associated with maintaining operational readiness. The remaining 25 percent would be divided equally between population-based and call-volume-based metrics, with 12.5 percent allocated according to each municipality’s share of the service population and 12.5 percent allocated according to each municipality’s share of annual emergency service runs.
Scott said they’ve spent months discussing the agreement, and at some point the conversation has to move from identifying problems to proposing solutions.
“This proposal is intended to do exactly that. Not everyone will agree with every provision, but I believe it’s important to put forward concrete ideas that can be debated, improved, and ultimately lead to a stronger agreement,” Scott told STN.
Dexter Township officials emphasized “that the proposal is intended to continue the ongoing discussions among the participating municipalities and that any changes to the agreement would require consideration and approval by all parties.”
Other Proposed Updates
Dexter Township’s proposal also includes several administrative updates intended to modernize the agreement, including:
- Updating terminology throughout the document to reflect current standards and governmental structures, including replacing references to “fireman” with “firefighter” and updating references from the former Village of Dexter to the City of Dexter.
- Establishing a standardized lease arrangement under which each municipality would lease its fire station facility to DAFD for $1 annually.
- Revising the department’s existing rotating neutral board member position by shortening the term from six years to three years, imposing a one-term limit, and requiring that the neutral member not be an elected official from the municipality whose residency is designated for that appointment cycle. The residency rotation among Dexter City, Dexter Township, and Webster Township would remain in place.
A Question of Equity among Taxpayers
In the township’s statement, Dexter Township Trustee Karen Sikkenga, who is also a member of DAFD Board, said the proposed funding formula also addresses concerns regarding equity among taxpayers served by the department.
Sikkenga said, “Our job is to advocate for Dexter Township taxpayers and ensure they are paying a fair and reasonable share of the costs of providing fire services.”
“Today, every station requires staffing, equipment, facilities, and administrative support regardless of how many calls originate in a particular municipality,” Sikkenga said. “The fact that the City of Dexter, with a smaller population and lower property values, currently pays more than the surrounding municipalities shows how disconnected the existing formula has become from the actual costs of operating the department. While this proposal may appear to benefit the City of Dexter today, the reality is that under the current formula Dexter Township has paid the largest share in previous years and could easily do so again in the future. That’s exactly why we need a funding model based on the actual costs of operating a modern fire department rather than annual fluctuations in call volume. Dexter Township residents deserve a system that is fair, predictable, and rooted in sound public policy.”
Photo: Station 2 is located in Dexter Township on North Territorial Road. Photo by Lonnie Huhman
114 North Main St Suite 10 Chelsea, MI 48118
