New sanitary sewer services for a mobile home park could mean more problems for its nearby fire department. To solve the sewer problem, "Ripley's" mobile home park may be annexed by the city of Muscatine.
"They have a lagoon system currently for their sanitary sewage. It is failing," said Muscatine Community Development Director, Steven Boka. "They are under a DNR mandate to do something with those lagoons. One of which is to connect to the sanitary sewer."
But if the neighborhood annexes, the Wilton Fire Protection District will lose at least $1,500 per year in funding.
"They drive revenue from the different townships to pay for their volunteer fire department," said Wilton City Administrator, Chris Ball.
But the City of Muscatine is trying to expand. Even building an extended sewer system that's capable of serving extra 1,200 acres. Unfortunately, the expansion is infringing on the Wilton Fire Protection District.
"The firefighters are concerned. It is they're more likely to be called, yet they'll lose revenue from the districts," said Ball. Even though the Wilton Fire District could be shrinking, those first responders are still likely to be called to duty when a large blaze breaks out. But they'd be doing all of that work with less funding.
"That would cut into their ability to maintain their equipment and other things associated with the fire department," Ball said. Wilton Fire is hoping to come to some sort of agreement with Muscatine Fire or the City of Muscatine, hoping the department will continue to be paid for services rendered.
"We haven't approached Muscatine about that and they haven't approached us at this point either. But I think it's something to look at in the future," Ball said. "To make sure that the people in that particular area North of 61 are adequately covered with fire protection, I think that's a conversation that needs to happen."
There is a public hearing on the issue Thursday, September 20 at 7:00 PM.
