Hamilton residents will likely join those in West Salem at the polls Nov. 4 to vote on a tax increase referendum designed to get the West Salem Fire Protecton District out of a financial jam.

The Hamilton Town Board was to make a final vote on the referendum Wednesday evening (after the Coulee News deadline). The board discussed the referendum at special meetings held Aug. 27 and Sept. 5.

The West Salem Village Board last week approved taking a tax increase referendum related to the fire district expenses to the voters. The Barre Town Board was to discuss and possibly vote on the referendum at its meeting Tuesday night (after the Coulee News deadline).

Barre Town Chairman Ron Reed said he wasn’t sure which way the town board would go on the matter.

The Hamilton Town Board has gone over referendum language with town attorney Darrell Talcott. Talcott explained to the board it could not legally say what specifically the money received from the increase in the town levy would go to because it was not technically earmarked, but within the referendum language they could state some of the reasons behind the proposed increase.

The fire district is asking for $141,575.28 from the town of Hamilton, a $79,009 increase over this year’s $62,566 fire district levy. That’s a 126 percent increase.

The fire district also is asking for $184,662.63 from the village of West Salem and $62,293.30 from the town of Barre to help cover its move from a fiscal year to calendar year budget as well as to pay off loans that paid for fire station remodeling and other expenses.

Hamilton Town Chairman Richard Schomburg said that while it is roughly a 21 percent increase over last year, residents would only be paying an estimated $44.50 per $100,000 of equalized property value extra on their tax bills.

“People hear 20 percent increase and go into a panic, but it works out to be not that much,” said Talcott.

The fire district remained a central topic of discussion for Hamilton Town Board members Sept. 5 as the board met to go over its proposed 2009 budget.

“The state has all these mandates for fire equipment but they don’t send a check with,” said board member Blaine Lee.

Questions abounded about what would happen if not all of the municipalities agreed to their tax levy increases for the fire budget.

Schomburg said he was under the impression that it was an “all or nothing” and that the West Salem Fire Protection District would have to go back and redo its budget if not all the municipalities came to the same agreement.

The municipalities have to go to the voters to get extra money for the fire district because of a state-mandated levy limit. Municipalities are allowed to increase their levies each year by 2 percent or the percentage growth in assessed value due to new construction, whichever is greater.

To accommodate the fire district needs, West Salem is looking at a 12 percent increase in its levy. Village President Dennis Manthei said there might be some confusion in terms of what approving the referendum means.

Although the tax levy increase is considered “ongoing,” that doesn’t mean there will be a 12 percent increase in the village tax levy every year. By designating the levy increase as “ongoing,” the village gets a one-time increase of 12 percent in its allowed levy.

That levy increase stays on the books for future years, which means that once the fire district expenses are paid off in the first year, the village will have a cushion of about 10 percent more tax levy than it would have had.

If the village didn’t designate the tax levy increase as ongoing, then next year the village’s tax levy cap would revert to last year’s number, which means the village would lose out on the 2 percent increase allowed under the cap.

Manthei and Village Administrator Teresa Schnitzler said the bigger base tax levy that would come with referendum approval would make it easier for the village to deal with increasing costs for fuel, asphalt, health insurance and other expenses. Those costs typically go up more than the state-allowed increase in the levy.

Manthei and Schnitzler also emphasized that just because the village tax levy would increase an extra 10 percent next year if the referendum is approved doesn’t mean the village board would use the full amount in the years to follow.

One thing that seems strange to Manthei is the fire district, which is governed by a board appointed by the three participating municipalities, is not allowed to impose a tax levy directly. Meanwhile, the board governing the technical college system and the board in charge of the Lake Neshonoc Protection and Rehabilitation District, which also have appointed boards, can impose tax levies directly.

Manthei wouldn’t necessarily want to see the fire district get that taxing ability, though. He’d rather see something done about the technical college system, in particular, being able to impose taxes without having decision makers directly accountable to voters.

To Manthei, that’s taxation without representation, but the Legislature has not wanted to deal with it, he said. “It’s our infamous people in Madison who don’t want to turn this rock over.”