Fire Station Equipment Appraised in Nasewaupee as Town Considers Possible Split From SDFD

The Town of Nasewaupee has received the appraisal it requested of the Southern Door Fire Department (SDFD) equipment housed in the north fire station in the town – a step that could lead to Nasewaupee splitting from the SDFD and forming its own fire department.

Nasewaupee town chair Steve Sullivan reported during the town board’s July 21 meeting that the appraisal estimated the equipment’s combined value at $352,000 on the low end, to $451,000 on the high end.

“If we were to leave [the SDFD], our share to purchase that would be somewhere between $120,000 to $150,000,” he said.

The operating agreement between the four municipalities in the SDFD – the Village of Forestville and the towns of Nasewaupee, Forestville and Clay Banks – states that if Nasewaupee would leave the department, the town would have the first option to purchase the pieces of equipment located in the town “at their then-fair-market value.”

Nasewaupee would be required to pay the remaining municipalities “an amount equal to the percentage of the then-fair-market value of the property contributed by the remaining municipalities.”

Based on Nasewaupee funding 70% of the SDFD’s budget, the town would need to pay the other municipalities 30% of the equipment’s value, Sullivan said.

“You go back to what we contributed in the past – look at the contract that was created – it’s spelled out that if Nasewaupee were to leave, if we’ve been paying 70% in the past, we’d only pay 30% to get the rest of it, only the stuff up here that’s normally kept in the station [in Nasewaupee],” he said.

Sullivan said an appraisal of the fire station in Nasewaupee should be completed before the board’s next monthly meeting on Aug. 18.

“The building [value], I have no idea,” he said. “It’s got to be at least a few hundred thousand dollars.”

The SDFD, which also has a south station in Forestville, was formed in 1980. Nasewaupee’s town board has been looking into a possible split since being urged through an advisory motion at the April 19 annual town meeting to form the town’s own department.

An eight-member fire board oversees the department, with two members coming from each municipality, and it’s funded with a tax levy based on equalized value, with Nasewaupee now paying more than two-thirds of the department’s budget.

As alternatives to leaving the SDFD, Sullivan has suggested changes to reduce the town’s funding share and increase its representation on the fire board.