Excerpts from 25newsnow.com:

The Peoria Heights Village Board of Trustees has wrestled with whether or not to outsource its volunteer fire department, but there were talks of transferring the services to the City of Peoria during last week’s board meeting.

The Village of Peoria Heights has discussed this potential move since 20-19. The village administrator believes it could better protect residents, but Peoria fire’s projected costs for fire calls and EMS services would exceed the budgeted amount for 2022 in Peoria Heights. The budget for all fire and EMS last year was $407,000. The projected cost for fire calls alone, if the board of trustees outsources the service, is $1,600 per call.

It’s unclear whether any agreement would be per call or a flat annual rate.

Terms of the contract have not been negotiated yet. The mayor of Peoria Heights said they can’t afford to pay a professional department, and the citizens of the village deserve to have more than one firefighter on duty at a time.

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