Three local fire protection districts would pay more money to the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department for dispatching services and one would pay less, under a proposal approved Monday by the County Board’s Law and Justice Committee.
The previous fees had been arbitrarily set, according to Sheriff’s Capt. Glenn Olson. After studying the number of calls from each fire district last year, the department realized that the fees ranged from $11 to $20 per call for the Alden-Hebron, Richmond, Spring Grove and Wonder Lake fire districts.
The study also showed that the cost of the dispatchers’ time to handle fire calls comes out to $15 per call. So the committee recommended approving fees that average $15 per call, based on last year’s volume of calls.
On that basis, the Wonder Lake Fire Protection District would pay $9,945, about $2,100 more than last year. Spring Grove would pay $5,610, about $700 more than last year. Richmond would pay $5,085, about $185 more than last year.
Alden-Hebron would pay $3,390, down $1,310 from last year.
