Will the Town of Beloit terminate fire service in South Beloit?

The Town of Beloit Board of Supervisors will discuss the future of the intergovernmental firefighting agreement between the Town and City of South Beloit at their meeting on Tuesday, September 2, 2025 at 6 p.m. Included in that discussion is the possibility of severing the agreement entirely.

The City of South Beloit and Town of Beloit are currently under a five-year intergovernmental agreement where South Beloit pays over $1 million each year for the Town of Beloit to provide fire and emergency medical services to the City. According to a Beloit Daily News article on November 20, 2024, the South Beloit EMT/fire contract increased the Town of Beloit's 2025 budget by 15 percent.

Included in the Town's agenda items for the upcoming meeting, an August 28, 2025 memo [PDF], written by Town Of Beloit Administrator Tom Wellnitz and Fire Chief Daniel Pease and addressed to TOB board of supervisors, recommends a motion that the Town "provide notice to the City of South Beloit to terminate the intergovernmental agreement for firefighting and emergency medical services effective October 1, 2026 at 7:00am and authorize the Town Administrator to terminate the agreement earlier if mutually agreed to by the City of South Beloit."

The agreement stated that the Town must provide a minimum of two personnel (the minimum to operate an ambulance) per shift to the South Beloit fire station and at times a maximum of three (the minimum to operate a fire engine). But the Town has been able to provide three staff only 10-15 percent of the time, according to Chief Pease in the recent fire study (pg. 16) conducted for the City of South Beloit.

According to the released memo, the reason for the move to terminate the agreement hinges on a difficult hiring market, leaving the Town of Beloit fire department unable to hire the nine fulltime staff needed to staff South Beloit. The Town of Beloit currently has 21 full-time department staff with an authorized budget for 30 full-time staff with the South Beloit contract. Unable to hire "to the staffing level needed to sustain supporting the South Beloit contract," the contract would be terminated "so that staff can be re-allocated to staff the new Town of Beloit fire station #2" completed in December 2024.

Harry Miller, a former City of Beloit fire fighter and concerned citizen of South Beloit, has been keeping tabs on response times with respect to South Beloit EMT and fire calls within the past few months. He posts his findings on Facebook almost daily. Reached for comment about the Tuesday agenda, Mr. Miller expressed a concern of hope and urgency.

"I think a lot of the people in attendance [at the Tuesday meeting] have a very valid question which is "What are we going to do now?" I truly hope that the city can work with us and explore the options of staffing the department ourselves. I think with proper staffing our fire department can be perfect for our community and the surrounding communities, unlike it has been for some time.“

“What I don't want is to see personal attacks and arguing. At the end of the day this is a very large issue in our community, and it needs to be about what we can do to change it together because if we don't work together, we will stay grid locked like this and nothing will get done and we cannot let that happen."

Mr. Miller has some ideas for that future staffing as well. He, along with other previous firefighters from Roscoe and the City of Beloit, drafted a staffing memo [PDF] highlighting how, in their view, the City of South Beloit would benefit with either a full-time model of 18 full-time staff and 2-3 command officers or a hybrid model. They estimate that the full-time staffing model at current salary and benefit rates "would result in $2.5–3 million annually in personnel costs, well beyond the department’s current and foreseeable budget."

Simultaneously, the group considers that the full-time model might not be the best one, given the department's call volume of approximately 80% EMS and 20% fire.

"With our staffing proposal we don’t think the fully full time department is sustainable. We believe they (SBFD) should revert to the previous jump company style, staffing three fulltime per shift as well as three part time staff.”

The City of South Beloit released their own memo [PDF] ahead of the Town of Beloit meeting.

"The City is aware that the Town of Beloit has the review of the IGA with the City of South Beloit on its upcoming meeting agenda. This is the result of several months of discussions between the two communities regarding the existing agreement. The current agreement includes a one-year notification provision for both communities prior to termination. The City intends to continue to work with the Town of Beloit during this period of transition while following the recommendations of the Illinois Fire Chief’s Association regarding staffing of the South Beloit Fire Department.

“The City of South Beloit City Council believed then, as it does now, that regionalization of area fire departments is necessary to ensure proper staffing throughout Northern Illinois. To that end, the City of South Beloit will be discussing next steps at upcoming City Council meetings regarding how staffing will be addressed in the future."

Mr. Miller, an experienced firefighter, also sees regionalization as an answer.

"Regionalization is the future but a very distant future. We need a solution tomorrow... I’m hopeful the city will work with the community and builds a fire department that works for us and other communities."

The Town of Beloit board of supervisor's meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 2, 2025 at 6 p.m. at the town hall meeting room located at 3000 S. Bartells Drive. Time is set aside for citizen's participation, communication, or announcements, e.g. public comment.