City Of Superior Fire Department To Service Village Of Superior’s Emergency Needs With New Rates

It seems the cost of everything continues to go up.  And it's no different for emergency services.

A new agreement for the City of Superior Fire Department to provide emergency service for the Village of Superior was recently approved.  That agreement provides a different way of calculating charges; one that takes into account more of the hard costs involved.

At their recent meeting, the Superior City Council decided to change the way that fees for those emergency service calls to the Village are calculated.  An article in the Superior Telegram [paywall] explains:

"What's changed is the city is no longer charging for those services using a formula established long ago.  Now, the city will charge the Village $1,200 for each response."

The new agreement was finalized on November 15 with the vote by the Superior City Council.

At the heart of the new fee plan is to help make sure the city is covering it's costs.  Superior City Councilor Jack Sweeney explains:

"'We're trying to make the costs equitable for the city'. The cost reflects operational expenses and doesn't include capital expenses."

The long and short of the new agreement will see the City of Superior billing the Village of Superior that $1,200 fee no matter if it's "a crash, a medical emergency, or a fire that takes hours to extinguish".

For now, the new agreement will cover emergency services for the next year.  An extended three year agreement would follow if the new fee structure works during this first year.

The one-year term also allows the city the opportunity to raise rates during that later three-year term - something one Councilor would like to see happen.  Councilor Sweeney explains that "when that new contract is considered, he would like to see an escalator clause built into it for the third year of the agreement."