Revenue Sharing, Tax Limits, Hiring Issues Put Strain On Fire And EMS Services, Says New Study

Legislative action may be needed to fix issues with Wisconsin’s fire and EMS services.

Wisconsin Policy Forum spokesman Mark Summerhauser says a new study shows that most of the state’s EMS positions are volunteer, which makes it hard to recruit new technicians.

“It can be a challenge to find anything that’s an additional incentive to keep doing this kind of work.”

Municipalities that currently rely on volunteer services find it hard to make the switch to paid employees because there are restrictions on raising property taxes and state shared aid hasn’t kept up with the cost of services.