Grand Chute’s fire department wants to add more staff to handle an increase in calls.
The town is holding a referendum in November to add nine firefighter-paramedic positions.
Fire Chief Tim Bantes says they last created nine positions after a 2008 referendum, and since then, they’re responding to 62 percent more calls.
He says the number of overlapping calls have jumped by 126 percent. He reports having times when they’ve had three or four separate calls come in, and they have to respond to all of them.
Bantes plans to use the new positions to staff a ladder truck, so they can make sure they have the right number of firefighters and the proper equipment at each fire.
He says the referendum would cost property taxpayers just over $34 a year, for every $100,000 in value.
