Floyd Fire Department, townships battle over contract

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

A disagreement over budgeting and financial support has left a large part of the Floyd fire district without a contract for fire protection, although firefighters from Floyd and surrounding communities say they will respond to fire calls even though the legality of their response is in question.

The Floyd fire district consists of the city of Floyd, Floyd Township, the west part of Cedar Township and a small part of Ulster township. Fire protection for that district has been provided by the Floyd Community Volunteer Fire Department, but the latest contracts for fire protection expired June 30.

The city of Floyd and Ulster Township signed new contracts in June, before the previous contracts expired, said Ben Chatfield, the Floyd fire chief. The west part of Cedar Township – that’s called West Cedar in the fire district – signed a contract Thursday evening, he said, leaving just Floyd Township without a contract.

Chatfield said the township changed the way the payments to the Fire Department were figured, resulting in the department receiving less money than it thinks it is entitled to.

Duane Folz, the chair of the Floyd Township Board of Trustees, said in a prepared statement that the board went through its usual budgeting process as required by Iowa Code, with all the required notifications, but the Fire Department did not take part in the process. He said when no one representing the department was at the trustees’ budget meeting, the board approved paying the same amount as in the previous contract.

Now that the township’s budget has been certified by the state and is in effect for the new fiscal year that began July 1, the rate being charged to taxpayers in the township for fire protection cannot be changed, Folz said.

But Chatfield said the township board has had the Fire Department’s proposed new contract since February.

The question revolves around the levy rate collected from property owners for fire protection. Iowa law allows townships to collect up to 60¾ cents per $1,000 of assessed taxable valuation for fire protection.

Chatfield said that is the rate that had been collected for the past three years on the previous contracts, and that’s the rate that is currently being collected by all the other fire districts in the county – and most of the state.

He said the property valuation in the district usually increases every year, and that’s kind of a built-in cost-of-living increase that the department counts on to meet rising costs.

But Folz said, this year, when no one from the Fire Department took part in the budget process, the board decided to keep the dollar amount of support for the department the same as the previous contract. Since the property valuation in the township had increased, the levy rate per $1,000 was reduced to collect the same amount of taxes.

Another issue is that during the three years that the previous contract was in effect, the 15-year property tax abatement that the county had approved when the Valero Renewables plant was built has now expired. The plant is located south of Floyd – in Floyd Township.

With Valero now paying the full value of its property taxes, if the levy rate had remained the same for the Fire Department the amount of money it received would have increased considerably. Chatfield said the difference overall would have been about $17,000 added to their previous annual budget of about $50,000.

Floyd Township represents 68% of the department’s entire budget, he said.

“Basically, all the fire departments are at the same millage rate,” Chatfield said. “They’re just not willing to pay us that extra money they have coming in.”

But Folz said, “Nobody from the Fire Department or the public had been vocal of the contract until the last week of June to discuss the budget for the next budget year. A meeting was held on June 30th, 2022, with both sides presenting contracts with trustees budget available and Fire Department requested budget needed.

“At this time the trustees aren’t able to raise the tax levy and the department (is) unwilling to take any less money to provide the fire service as well as some other miscellaneous issues. … Currently we are actively looking for fire representation for the township,” the trustees’ statement says.

According to Iowa Code, townships are required to provide fire protection, by providing it through a township department or contracting with another public or private service.

When asked about that legal requirement, Folz told the Press he couldn’t get into legal issues, because he’s not an attorney, and the statement he issued gives the township’s position.

The biggest question on the minds of township residents and business owners is whether firefighters will respond if there is a call.

An online viewer brought up the issue at a Board of Supervisors meeting this week, and two people called the Press asking if they have protection, with one concerned whether insurance would cover a fire without a fire department.

After the previous contract expired, an attorney representing the Floyd Fire Department sent a letter to the Floyd Township Board of Trustees, saying they were done responding to calls.

Asked if that really meant they would not answer a fire call, Chatfield said, “I’m not saying we’re not going to go to a call. I mean, that’s not the nature of the firemen. But, the point is there is no agreement. There is nothing legally binding us to go to those calls, and state law says they’re required to provide fire protection. They’re taxing the public for a service they’re not legally contracted to have anybody provide.”

He said another issue is whether members of his department would be protected for liability if they respond to a call without a contract.

“Our attorney has advised us to be very careful in what we do if we do respond. Obviously there’s some concern if we do something at a call we could open ourselves up for legal problems, which is the last thing we want to do,” Chatfield said.

“It’s not the community’s fault we’re in this predicament. We’re going to continue to serve the community, as long as we financially can,” Chatfield said, noting that without a contract with Floyd Township the department is not receiving the largest part of its funding.

Charles City Fire Chief Eric Whipple said that if called upon, the Charles City Fire Department would answer a call in the Floyd fire district, but the legal situation isn’t clear.

“Our mutual aid agreement is with the Floyd Fire Department, not with Floyd Township,” he said.

“We have the same mindset that Floyd Fire Department has, that obviously we’re in the business to help people. That part really hasn’t changed. It just comes down to the fact that the township, by law, has to have a contract with a fire department to provide fire protection, so that has to happen at some point, whether it’s with Floyd Fire Department or anyone else,” Whipple said.

Asked whether the CCFD would be interested in a contract with Floyd Township, Whipple said with the current shortage of volunteers the Charles City department is stretched too thin to even think about taking on additional area, and even if it did it would want the full 60¾ cents per $1,000 funding that the Floyd Fire Department is asking for.

County Supervisor Linda Tjaden said she had talked with Folz, and he told her he had talked with the county Dispatch Department, “and they know what to do in the case that anybody has a fire in that area, and any of the fire stations that they have 28E agreements with he said we can work with them. He said right now we just don’t have anything with the Floyd Fire Station.”

On Tuesday she said, “I told Duane yesterday that all of us are getting calls. The citizens need to know that everybody’s trying to make it right.”

On Wednesday, Tjaden told the Press, “I just don’t have any comfort that they’re sitting there trying to come up with an agreement as to how to move forward. … They cannot just drop the ball like this. They have got to come up with a resolution. Whether it’s hiring someone to help negotiate an agreement or something, but we have to have a plan.”