HOWARD, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Voters rejected a referendum that sought to increase public safety staffing and services in Howard.
The public safety referendum would have permanently increased the current levy by $765,000 to fill state and federal funding gaps. Had it passed, residents could have expected a tax increase of roughly $33.24 per $100,000 of property value.
The referendum would have resulted in an additional 2,920 police patrol hours.
But it failed by 333 votes on Tuesday.
Howard Village Administrator Paul Evert says the referendum’s failure makes it impossible for the village to increase policing, which is contracted through the Brown County Sheriff’s Office. The referendum would have added police protection with the 24/7 staffing of a second patrol car in addition to the Brown County contract.
However, the village still plans to provide its own fire-based paramedic service after its current ambulance service contract expires at the end of this year.
“Although we are disappointed that the referendum was not approved, we respect the decision of the community,” said Evert. “We will continue to try to meet the increasing public safety challenges of our growing community using our current resources. This will require the reallocation of internal resources, which will likely impact other services in our community.”
The village will need to hire four additional paramedic-firefighters and staff daytime fire coverage with paid-on-premise positions, according to Public Safety Director Ed Janke. It will continue attempting to recruit paid-on-call firefighters.
“These steps will only allow us to react to current response demands,” Janke said. “Responses during nighttime hours will remain a serious concern.”
Evert had previously explained that, on a typical night, there are not firefighters at the station overnight. When there is an emergency, on-call firefighters are called in.
