Annually the city enters into a contract with Pequot Lakes
to provide the city of Breezy Point with Fire Service. Pequot Lakes hosts the Pequot Lakes Fire
District. The district is composed of
the cities of Pequot Lakes, Jenkins, and Breezy Point. Townships of Jenkins, Loon Lake, Moose Lake,
Pelican, and Popular are also involved.
The fire contract uses a formula to share the costs on an equitable
basis. It involves the use of the service averaged over a 10 year period by
each jurisdiction and the total market value of structures in each
jurisdiction. These factors are a
percentage of the whole. The use
percentage and the value percentage are then added and divided by 2 to come to
a percentage that is applied to the annual budget of the operations of the Fire
Department.
As Breezy Point has a high structure value and receives a
good deal of call volume our share of the costs of the department are
relatively high. Pequot Lakes is also relatively high and currently paying the
most under the agreement for fire service. For 2015-2016 the cost of fire
service for Breezy Point is $76,027.66.
This is slightly higher than 2014-2015 contracts at $74,335.
The fire district operates a sub-station in Breezy
Point. This is manned by volunteers of
the Pequot Lakes Fire Department from residents that live in Breezy Point. This sub-station is located in the Public
Safety Building just north of City Hall.
Having this facility allows some property owners to get a lower rate on
their fire insurance. It also has led to
better response times than was previously available. Breezy Point provides the building facility
however the equipment housed is part of the Pequot Lakes Fire Department. Overall this has been a good relationship for
the city and serves the city well.
