News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Alpena Township firefighter Luke Meisner checks the oil on the hydraulic compressor used for the Jaws-of-Life while at work on Wednesday. The Alpena Township Board of Trustees will begin to have workshops to devise a plan on how best to fund and staff the department after a proposed tax increase failed to pass on Tuesday.

ALPENA — Alpena Township will begin having Board of Trustees workshops to determine what the next step is to fund and restructure its fire department.

During Tuesday’s primary election, voters rejected a new, 3-mill property tax that would have cost the owner of a $100,000 house about $150 a year and raised about $1.1 million a year to fund operations and equipment at the township Fire Department.

The township would have levied the property tax for six years.

The proposed tax increase was defeated 1,446 to 1,191.

Township Supervisor Nathan Skibbe said all available options to address the financial, staffing, and infrastructure issues with the department are on the table, including putting another proposal on the ballot in November or contracting with another municipality to provide service.

Skibbe said the meeting will be scheduled soon because if the trustees place the tax increase on the ballot a second time, the ballot language needs to be submitted by Aug. 16.

“This process is going to begin immediately and everything will be on the table. We will be looking at every single variable and what our mission is moving forward,” Skibbe said. “We are still understaffed and underfunded, so we are going to have to circle the wagons and have very thorough and very transparent discussions. At this point, every option we have needs to be on the table.”

The township has struggled to maintain its fire department — which has cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in subsidies from the township general fund and has been understaffed.

The new tax would have helped the township maintain its own fire department without subsidization from the general fund.

Skibbe said the staffing and funding issues are not unique to the township’s fire department and pointed out many fire departments are struggling with the same issues the township is facing.

Last year, the Township Board of Trustees voted down a proposed contract that would have paid the City of Alpena $400,000 a year and, after three years, a 2% increase of that payment would have kicked in until it hit a $475,000 a year cap.

The city fire department staffed and managed the township’s northside station for six months in 2021.

In order to restructure the department properly, the board agreed more tax revenue was needed to hire help, purchase equipment, and help cover the cost of maintenance of the two fire stations the township operates.

The long-term goal was to build a new southside station, which is beginning to fall into disrepair.

Skibbe said the vote Tuesday could show that maybe there were a majority of people who supported the contract with the city, which outnumbered the vocal few who fought against it.

“Hindsight is always 20-20. Unfortunately the loudest voices you hear are always the minority voices,” he said. “That is how it has always been and how it will always be. We put faith in the democratic process and the voters spoke.”

Skibbe said when the workshops begin, the process will be done in a public forum.

“These meetings will be open to the public, as all of our meetings are, and will be available on Zoom,” Skibbe said. “All people are welcome in these discussions.”