MONROE — The Monroe Common Council discussed extending a short-term fire protection contract for the towns of Monroe and Clarno for six months at its meeting May 4.

The council discussed the matter at length, but decided to put it on a future agenda. The current short-term contract expires on June 30.

The city council and the towns have been using six-month extensions of a previous five-year contract as all of the municipal governments consider future fire protection options.

The City of Monroe charges city property owners for fire protection based on property value. In the past, the towns were charged for fire protection based per fire call.

In an effort to make funding of the fire department equal for all citizens who benefit from it, the city has asked the towns to work through stepped fee increases until town residents in the fire district are paying the same as city taxpayers. Town officials have said that would increase the cost for fire protection beyond their ability to raise the amount through taxation.

Alder Donna Douglas of the City of Monroe proposed the six month extension in the interest “of at least trying to work things out.”

There has been consideration by towns to possibly start their own fire department, create a fire department building and provide their own fire protection. The towns hope this would save them money, but starting a fire department is a complex process and the quality of equipment, number of trained firefighters and several other factors would be key to allow a new rural fire department to meet the requirements allowing property owners to qualify for fire insurance.

Alders Douglas and Robert Driver both voiced support for continuing to work with the towns to come up with a long-term agreement.

“All you can do is be fair,” Driver said.

Alder Michael Boyce said the city has taken a fair approach and it won’t change its proposal.

“This has been going on for two years and there’s no reason to delay it any further,” Boyce said. “We’ve made them a very fair offer.”

Town of Monroe chairman Todd Haase, who is also a member of the Monroe Fire Department, said the main difficulty for the towns is that the increase, even if phased in over time, would create too much of a tax burden for town residents to bear.

Haase said the towns are interested in negotiating with the city, but they’ve started to gather fire equipment to create their own fire department if necessary.

Haase said the towns so far have a total of five trucks and a roster of 20 interested firefighters.

“We realize there are state statutes we will have to meet to create a fire department that serves a fire district,” Haase said. “We’re not ready to open our own fire department, but we have to prepare for the possibility that we won’t be able to work out an agreement with the city.”

Haase said the city’s plan to have all in the fire district pay fees based on property taxes has been a “take-it-or-leave-it” proposal.

“My take on how (the city) has gone about this is very upsetting,” Haase said. “When we ask if we can get an agreement that works better for both parties the answer’s a “no” with no changes.

“The last thing we want to do is go out on our own,” Haase continued. “It’s a major undertaking.”

Haase said the towns have been talking to the Green County Sheriff’s Department and getting help in forming a fire department budget from the fire departments in Monticello and Juda.

The fledgling fire department has received donations of turn-out gear and hydraulic equipment from other state fire departments, Haase said.

“We have big things to pull together, but we still want to talk to the city,” Haase said.