Maintenance of Effort for Emergency Services
- What is maintenance of effort for emergency services?
- How will counties and municipalities report expenditures to the Department of Revenue?
- Every local government encounters circumstances and situations in providing emergency services, will DOR take these differences into account?
- How will efficiencies in emergency services impact the maintenance of effort calculation?
- Are there exceptions to what is included in the amount spent on emergency services?
- If a county or municipality reduces expenditures below the 2009 base amount, how will the penalty be calculated?
- What is the definition of total revenues?
- What should we include on Line 1 of the worksheet as emergency services?
- What is the amount a county or municipality must spend each year on emergency services?
- Our costs for fire, police and ambulance services are contracted and based on our percentage of equalized value to the equalized value of the entire district. If our percentage of equalized value to the total equalized value decreases, resulting in reduced costs for these services, will we be penalized?
- If a long-term employee leaves, the difference in salaries between that veteran employee and a new employee may result in a reduction of costs while maintaining the same level of service. How will this situation be handled?
- Are there other types of adjustments that may be made to the amount spent on emergency services?
- Should we include training cost (initial or reoccurring) on Line 1 for expenditures?
- What is the amount of the penalty that will be imposed if a county or municipality fails to comply?
- Can a county or municipality use the amount budgeted instead of the amount spent?
- What are examples of one-time expenses that can be included on Line 2?
- Should we include our jail staff (including clerical and support staff) as part of our expenditures for emergency services?
- We do not track our overtime for emergency services by the type of event. Can we include all of our overtime expenditures for emergency services on Line 1?
- Should expenditures for positions funded, in full or in-part, by a grant be included in emergency service expenditures?
- What would be included as facility costs?
- Can a determination be appealed by a county or municipality?
- Will we be penalized for holding a position open for a guard member who is deployed, as required by law? Salary costs will be reduced for the period the guard member is deployed.
- If someone is suspended or is on medical/family leave without pay, will we be penalized for the reduction in expenditures this will create?
- When and how should we notify DOR once we become aware of a situation that will result in our expenditures being less than our 2009 expenditures?
- Do we report expenditures for services we supply to other counties, municipalities, schools, etc.?
- How are the 2% dues for a fire district handled under this program?
- Why is DOR requesting 2008 and 2010 data?
- Would a county/municipality be penalized if a county/municipality requires emergency service staff to take furlough time in an effort to reduce the county/municipality’s expenses?
- Are we required to spend an amount equal to or exceeding the amount spent in the 2009 base year in each category of emergency services listed on the worksheet?
- What is maintenance of effort for emergency services?
2009 Wisconsin Act 28 requires counties and municipalities, beginning in 2010, to maintain their 2009 level of spending on emergency services. If a county or municipality fails to comply, DOR may reduce that county’s or municipality’s payment of shared revenues by an amount determined by DOR. (See Sections 79.07, 79.035 and 79.043, Wis. Stats.)
- How will counties and municipalities report expenditures to the Department of Revenue?
Every county and municipality will be required to file a report with DOR by May 15 th of each year.
- Worksheet PDF
- Worksheet Excel
- Instructions
- Every local government encounters circumstances and situations in providing emergency services, will DOR take these differences into account?
Yes. The goal is to maintain service levels. DOR will be as flexible as possible in working with local governments and their specific situations. DOR has developed a process to allow local governments to explain these situations. There may be circumstances that caused expenditures for emergency services to spike in 2009 or situations that will cause budgeted expenditures to fall in 2010 that are reasonable to consider in determining the maintenance of effort. DOR encourages counties and municipalities to provide supporting documentation with the report when these types of circumstances exist.
- How will efficiencies in emergency services impact the maintenance of effort calculation?
Under the law, DOR can allow for decreases in expenditures on emergency services if the decrease is a result operating efficiencies. This decrease will be the new minimum expenditure level for maintenance of effort calculations into the future. DOR encourages counties and municipalities to provide documentation explaining such efficiencies with their report.
- Are there exceptions to what is included in the amount spent on emergency services?
Yes, every county and municipality should subtract capital expenditures and one‑time expenses from total Emergency Service Expenditures. DOR will use this information to more accurately reflect the amount that should be used in setting the 2009 base amount for that county/municipality. A county/municipality will be required to report the amounts spent on:
- Capital expenditures (i.e. purchase of a new fire truck, squad car, ambulance, building, computers, etc).
- One-time expenses (i.e. new software, expenditures of funds received by a grant, severance payouts, lawsuit settlements, etc).
- If a county or municipality reduces expenditures below the 2009 base amount, how will the penalty be calculated?
This is a three-step process. In the first step, DOR will determine the difference in the reported year’s (i.e. 2010/subsequent budget year) expenditures and the 2009 base amount. If the amount spent in the reported year is less than the 2009 base year amount and no adjustments are authorized, DOR may impose a penalty. The penalty is calculated by determining the percentage of shared revenues used to fund these emergency services and multiplying that percentage by the amount of the reduction.
Steps
- 2009 base amount minus reported year expenditures
- If the result of Step 1 is a positive number, then DOR will calculate the percentage by dividing shared revenues received by total revenues (excluding grants, donations, and other one time revenues).
- Multiply the amount determined in Step 1 by the percentage determined in Step 2. This is the amount of emergency services subject to penalty. For example:
2009 base amount spent on emergency services was $2,000,000; emergency services expenditures for 2010 are $1,500,000; Shared Revenue received for 2010 is $125,000; total revenue received including shared revenue for 2010 is $2,625,000
Reduction: $2,000,000 – $1,500,000 = $500,000
Percentage: $125,000 / $2,625,000 = 0.047619048 or 4.7619048%
Penalty: $500,000 x 0.047619048= $23,809
- What is the definition of total revenues?
For the purpose of this report, total revenues means all funds received (with the exception of funds received for a specific purpose through grants, donations, a fundraiser and other one-time revenues) by a county or municipality to fund the varied programs of that county or municipality.
- What should we include on Line 1 of the worksheet as emergency services?
L ine 1 must include salary and fringe for first responder staff, police, fire and EMT/ambulance services. Other types of services may be included as emergency services. All service costs your county/municipality classifies as emergency services must be included on line 1 of the worksheet.
For example, you may decide to include none, all or part of the expenditures, for: 911 call center staff, emergency service managers, emergency service support/clerical staff, jail staff, hazardous material response team, snow removal, equipment rentals, mileage charges, etc. If these types of expenditures are included or excluded when establishing the 2009 base amount they must be included or excluded in all subsequent reporting years unless it is a newly added service that DOR agrees should be classified as an emergency service.
Unemployment benefits or workers compensation expenditures for staff that hold/held an emergency services position at the time they qualified for one of these benefits should be included in your expenditures for emergency services.
- What is the amount a county or municipality must spend each year on emergency services?
Under sec. 79.07, Wis. Stats., a county or municipality must spend an amount equal to or greater than the amount spent on emergency services in 2009. If a county or municipality reduces the amount spent on emergency services below the 2009 base amount (or adjusted 2009 base amount), it may be subject to a penalty. DOR encourages submission of a written explanation of the differential. A sufficient rationale would eliminate any penalty.
- Our costs for fire, police and ambulance services are contracted and based on our percentage of equalized value to the equalized value of the entire district. If our percentage of equalized value to the total equalized value decreases, resulting in reduced costs for these services, will we be penalized?
If you are part of an emergency service district such as a fire district or you contract one or more of your emergency services to another entity (i.e. municipality, county, private company, etc.) and your costs decrease while your level of service has not decreased, you may petition DOR, through that written explanation, to review the reason for the reduction in expenditures and avoid a penalty.
- If a long-term employee leaves, the difference in salaries between that veteran employee and a new employee may result in a reduction of costs while maintaining the same level of service. How will this situation be handled?
If your expenditures are lower than the 2009 expenditures without a loss or compromise in your level of emergency services, you should notify the Department of Revenue of your specific situation and you will not be penalized. If there is an agreement between the local government and police or fire representatives, a written clarification of that to DOR would be helpful.
- Are there other types of adjustments that may be made to the amount spent on emergency services?
Yes, DOR may adjust any amount reported to more accurately reflect the amount the county or municipality spent on emergency services. DOR may also make adjustments for reductions in the amount a county or municipality spent because of efficiencies achieved by the county or municipality.
- Should we include training cost (initial or reoccurring) on Line 1 for expenditures?
Required training of emergency service staff should be included as emergency service expenditures. You may exclude non-required training expenditures.
- What is the amount of the penalty that will be imposed if a county or municipality fails to comply?
If the calculated penalty equals at least $500, DOR will reduce your shared revenue payment by the penalty amount. See question 6 for an example of how DOR will calculate the penalty if one should be imposed.
- Can a county or municipality use the amount budgeted instead of the amount spent?
No, the amount spent by a county or municipality on emergency services will be the amount used to determine if that county or municipality met the requirements of sec. 79.07, Wis. Stats.
- What are examples of one-time expenses that can be included on Line 2?
One-time expenses may include
- severance payouts
- lawsuit settlements
- expenses funded by donations or fund raisers
- overtime costs due to an event that is not an annual or recurring event
A one-time expense may involve more than a single year. Only the portion of that expense actually incurred during the reporting year should be reported. Once an item is classified and reported as a one-time expense, it must be classified as a one-time expense in subsequent years.
- Should we include our jail staff (including clerical and support staff) as part of our expenditures for emergency services?
This depends on whether you classify your jail staff as emergency service providers. Because of your local situation, you may define these staff as part of that service; therefore, you may decide to include none, all or part of the expenditures, for support/clerical staff and jail staff as emergency services. If these types of expenditures are included or excluded when establishing the 2009 base amount they must be included or excluded in all subsequent reporting years unless, in the case of an expenditure that was not included in 2009, it is a newly added service that DOR agrees should be classified as an emergency service.
- We do not track our overtime for emergency services by the type of event. Can we include all of our overtime expenditures for emergency services on Line 1?
Yes, you may include all of the overtime costs for these services if you are not able to distinguish among the types of events the overtime costs cover or if it is more reasonable to include all the overtime costs of emergency services.
If you do report these costs in the base year, then you must report them in each subsequent year. If you do not report these costs in the base year, then you must not report them in each subsequent year.
- Should expenditures for positions funded, in full or in-part, by a grant be included in emergency service expenditures?
No, the portion of the expenditure funded by a grant should not be included. However, the portion of the expenditure funded by the county/municipality should be included.
- What would be included as facility costs?
For the purpose of this report, facility costs are maintenance, janitorial and utility costs associated with real property. These and other related facility expenses should not be included in Line 1.
- Can a determination be appealed by a county or municipality?
Yes.Send a letter of appeal to DOR stating your position. Include a detailed explanation and all relevant supporting documentation. Send your letter of appeal to: Wisconsin Department of Revenue, Director of Property Tax, PO Box 8971, Madison, WI 53708-8971.
- Will we be penalized for holding a position open for a guard member who is deployed, as required by law? Salary costs will be reduced for the period the guard member is deployed.
No, there would be no penalty if holding a position open for a deployed military member results in your expenditures falling below the 2009 base amount. You must inform DOR and include supporting documentation when completing your report for that year.
- If someone is suspended or is on medical/family leave without pay, will we be penalized for the reduction in expenditures this will create?
No, there would be no penalty if your expenditures are lower than the 2009 base year expenditures due to such situations. You must inform DOR and include supporting documentation when completing your report for that year.
- When and how should we notify DOR once we become aware of a situation that will result in our expenditures being less than our 2009 expenditures?
You should attach a detailed explanation of the reason for any reductions in your expenditures below the 2009 base amount with the report when it is filed. Additional supporting documentation may be requested by DOR during the review of the report. If you find there is an error in your report, immediately notify DOR.
- Do we report expenditures for services we supply to other counties, municipalities, schools, etc.?
No. The counties or municipalities receiving emergency services from your county or municipality would report the cost of those services on their expenditure reports. The contract provider should not include that amount on line 1 as an expenditure for the providing county or municipality.
A contract with an entity such as a school, to provide a police officer for specific days or time would not be included even though that entity does not have a requirement to report expenditures under this program.
- How are the 2% dues for a fire district handled under this program?
If you are contractually obligated to pay your fire dues revenue to another municipality or a joint fire district, then you may exclude that payment from your costs each year. If you have no such contractual obligation, then fire dues would not affect how you report your base costs.
- Why is DOR requesting 2008 and 2010 data?
If the 2009 expenditures are significantly less or more than the 2008 expenditures, DOR may request additional information to determine if the 2009 expenditures are realistic or if an adjustments should be made to the base amount. The 2010 budgeted amount will assist you in identifying a potential problem with your projected expenditures before you are required to report the 2010 actual expenditures in 2011.
- Would a county/municipality be penalized if a county/municipality requires emergency service staff to take furlough time in an effort to reduce the county/municipality’s expenses?
If this is an effort solely to reduce expenses, yes. However, if the level of service has been maintained, then, no. Remember the goal is maintenance of service. If the amount of emergency service expenditures falls below the 2009 expenditure base amount the county or municipality may be penalized unless the change is a result of an efficiency achieved in the service provided.
- Are we required to spend an amount equal to or exceeding the amount spent in the 2009 base year in each category of emergency services listed on the worksheet?
No, excluding exceptions or adjustments, the total amount (the sum of all categories of emergency services) spent on emergency services in a given year must equal or exceed the total amount of all emergency service categories spent in the 2009.
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE
Local Government Services Section
P.O. Box 8971 MS 6-97
Madison , WI 53708
E-mail: lgs@revenue.wi.gov
Phone: (608) 261-5360 or (608) 266-2569
Fax: (608) 264-6887
Last updated October 21, 2009