By Rose Androwich
Kenosha News
SOMERS, Wis. — The Village Board has voted to accept a federal grant to help fund additional EMT and firefighter personnel, despite a failed referendum to help pay its portion of matching funds.
The board voted 4-2 last week to formally accept a federal SAFER grant to fund those positions.
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency three-year grant will be used to cover the cost of equipment, vehicles, related operating expenses along with staffing to add eight additional firefighters and EMTs. For the first two years it is designed to cover 75% of those costs before switching over to 35% in the final year.
The federal portion of the SAFER grant will last until 2029.
Somers went to referendum to authorize required matching funds to accept the grant, but the $1.3 million referendum was defeated on April 7 with 1,417 votes against to 920 in favor.
Somers President George Stoner expressed concerns last week with the long-term financial impact of the grant on the village and voted against accepting it. Stoner said the village’s financial firm Ehlers had advised against accepting it.
He added a financial analysis showed that if Somers funded the eight additional firefighters, the village would be “in a hole” by the end of 2029.
“The only thing that’s going to get us out of this, in my opinion and in their (financial advisers’) opinion too, is another referendum,” Stoner said. “The people in the first referendum said ‘no.’”
The village has to wait another two years before holding another similar referendum.
Stoner said he’s always been opposed to accepting the SAFER grant due to the financial burden it puts on the village to match it. He said the Village Board’s decision to accept it all but forces them to hold another referendum on the issue.
Trustee Ben Harbach also voted against accepting the grant. He said the fact a majority of Somers residents voted against the original $1.3 million referendum influenced his decision.
“As far as I’m concerned, I work for the taxpayers and the residents of this community,” Harbach said. “I have to go with them and so I cannot support the grant at this time.”
Village trustee Karl Ostby, who voted in favor of accepting the grant funds, said he feels very comfortable with the village being able to fund the grant for the next two years. He added that the village also could apply for a retention grant.
To fund the grant after two years, he said the village would have to hold another referendum. If a referendum vote in two years also failed, Ostby said the village might then have eliminate some of the new personnel.
The village has made no final decision on how to pay for its matching portion of the grant after two years.
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