Several towns and villages surrounding Oshkosh will soon have to find new ambulance coverage after the city’s common council voted unanimously to end ambulance service agreements with eight nearby communities.
After almost two decades, the city is looking to end the existing Emergency Medical Services (EMS) contract with 10 neighboring municipalities amid staffing challenges at the Oshkosh Fire Department. The contracts expire at the start of 2026.
Oshkosh still hopes to have another partnership, but that contract would be for one year and only serve the towns of Algoma, Black Wolf and Nekimi.
City leaders say the decision comes after years of increasing demand for ambulance calls within Oshkosh itself, adding that maintaining services in these towns has become unsustainable with current staffing levels and call volume.
“When it was originally set up, it was not set up as a regional ambulance service, and that is what it needs to be if it were to continue that way,” Oshkosh City Manager Rebecca Grill said during her recommendation at the June 25 common council meeting. “There’s a negative impact to the city of Oshkosh residents to whom we’re responsible for doing the right thing for.”
According to the Oshkosh Northwestern, when the services started in the late 2000s, it was a way for the city to offset some of the costs related to EMS services, especially in rural towns and communities. OFD and the City of Oshkosh entered into contracts with the Towns of Algoma, Black Wolf, Nekimi, Omro, Poygan, Rushford, Winneconne and Utica, during that time.
“Facing an increasing demand and call volume, the city decided to add a fourth ambulance to service its towns. However, it has been unable to hire the eight paramedics needed to staff it.
The decision comes just one year after Oshkosh essentially stopped subsidizing the cost of its EMS services for the 10 surrounding municipalities. The adjusted rates equated to a 1,000% increase, moving from roughly $3 to $30 per capita paid by Oshkosh residents.
City officials notified the towns, but no replacement options were given.
When Omro council member David Wiese learned that his city’s access to a shared resource would be cut, he said to NBC 26 that he can’t really be upset with Oshkosh because he doesn’t control the ambulances.
“They have to take care of their own first, and unfortunately, we’re getting cut,” Wiese said.
Omro City Administrator Brandon Hennes said he has been preparing for this possibility since the fall of 2023.
“The pressure is on, we’re trying to think of everything,” he said. The decision gives the impacted municipalities less than six months to find a solution.
To address the issue, the City of Omro and the Towns of Winneconne, Omro, Poygan, Utica, Black Wolf and Nekimi have entered into an intergovernmental agreement.
“We know collectively that having one service provider service the entire area, with the number of runs and calls, would make the most financial sense,” Hennes said.
The agreement will create two EMS stations, with one being placed in Omro. The IGA would then contract an outside private EMS company like Superior, Lifestar or Gold Cross, to house its vehicles and staff at the stations. Gold Cross already provides services for the city of Menasha.
According to Hennes, any changes would be a blow to the budget, and the changes could be more than double the original estimate. Due to state levy laws, they can’t just raise property taxes to pay for the new EMS.
“We can only increase our levy through net new construction, and last year Omro’s net new construction was .872%. That equated to a $13,000 increase,” Hennes said.
However, hope is not lost for the towns, as Grill said city staff is looking at the possibility of a joint fire service department with the neighboring municipalities for 2027 and beyond. In August, the city announced it was completing a feasibility study to look at a joint fire department with Algoma.
