The consolidation of seven municipal fire and rescue departments on the North Shore 20 years ago has saved the communities millions of dollars while providing a superior level of service, the Public Policy Forum says in a new report.
Those seven municipalities together would have paid a total of $2.8 million more annually in operating costs in 2014 to achieve an equivalent level of service, if they had not combined the departments into one unit, says the report, "Come Together: An analysis of fire department consolidation in Milwaukee County's North Shore."
Success of the North Shore Fire Department prompted Public Policy Forum President Rob Henken to remind other municipalities in southeastern Wisconsin that consolidating a variety of services — fire and rescue, police, health and even school districts — could save taxpayer dollars.
The numbers alone — 146 municipalities and 92 school districts in the seven-county region — show there is plenty of opportunity, Henken said.
While North Shore communities talked for 10 years before consolidation occurred in 1995, it could not have succeeded without the willingness of public officials to take a risk, Fire Chief Robert Whitaker said.
Whitaker was there. He has been a firefighter with the department the entire 20 years and was promoted to chief in 2010.
"It took elected officials willing to work together and willing to lose a little of their local control," Whitaker said. "Another challenge is loss of identity. A municipality's name is no longer on the fire truck. It is not on a firefighter's uniform."