GERMANTOWN, Wis. — Calls for emergency service in one southeast Wisconsin small town are skyrocketing. It's now to the point where law enforcement said they're struggling to keep up.
Now, the Germantown Fire and Police Departments are forced to ask the public to help pay for more people.
"They should've done it five years ago, but no I'm very supportive of it," resident Bob Soderberg said, who's in favor of the referendum.
"I'm sort of up in the air about the referendum. The public safety department takes up a majority of the village's budget," resident Geof Johnson said.
Now, it's up to folks who live in Germantown to decide if law enforcement gets the help they said they need.
It's a referendum that would add four police officers and 10 firefighter paramedics, but at a cost to taxpayers.
"Our calls for service for retail theft have increased dramatically, drug overdoses, mental health issues. We're seeing more people armed, more people with guns during our calls of service than we ever have. The number of high-speed pursuits we've been in," Police Chief Michael Snow said.
Snow said while crime is up, the number of officers on the force hasn't changed since the 1990s. Then, there were about 13,000 people in the village. Now, there are more than 21,000.
The police aren't the only ones feeling the fire.
"Specifically since 2016, we've seen an increase in 41 percent of our calls. It's just at a tipping point where we're so busy that we need the help," Fire Chief John Delain said.
It's an increase in calls that staff struggles to keep up with.
Firefighters and paramedics TMJ4 talked to said they're working well over 40-hour work weeks. In some cases, they said that they're pulling more than three times that in a single workweek.
"Ten additional firefighter paramedics would be a significant help to us," Delain added.
If the referendum passes, property taxes would increase by $51 per year per $100,000. That means, if your home costs $350,000, you'd pay an additional $178 in taxes.
Germantown is hosting another town hall on Wednesday, March 16th at 6:30 p.m.
The vote happens on April 2.
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