The West Porter Township Fire Protection District is the latest entity to face fiscal challenges with an anticipated $108,000 shortfall between its 2026 projected general fund budget and anticipated maximum levy.
Newly appointed treasurer Joe Wiszowaty, who was unanimously voted to the post following the resignation of Guy Kosmoski, said at the district’s special board meeting Monday evening the maximum levy for 2026 is expected to be $180,723 while the projected budget is $288,960. An additional $96,430 is expected for the 2026 Special Cumulative Fire Fund, but it cannot be used for contractual obligations.
The contracted amount the district pays the Lakes of the Four Seasons Volunteer Fire Force (LOFSVFF) was 38% more in 2025 than the year before and had gone up 13% in 2024 over 2023. “The only reason I supported it was we were moving toward a fire territory,” Wiszowaty said of the $96,000 increase for 2025. “We can’t continue to bleed money or we’ll go bankrupt.”
Those talks of forming a fire territory between the district, the town of Winfield, and Winfield Township stalled out in December. Wiszowaty said the town has agreed to pay more toward the LOFSVFF service that all three municipalities have individual contracts for. “They haven’t been paying their fair share and they know it,” he said. “The district has been subsidizing their fair share.”
Zack Beaver, president of the Winfield Town Council, provided amounts the town of 8,000 is spending on its fire service of late. The budgeted amount for 2024 was $253,000, a 10% increase over 2023. This year’s budget jumped up 58% to $400,000, and the town plans to spend 50% more in 2026 at $600,000.
By contrast, the county paid $251,000 for its fire contract for 2025, up from $155,000 in 2024 due to the contract formally accounting for LOFSVFF’s ambulance service to the district, which had gone uncompensated until this year. Winfield Township paid $433,800 for its contract with LOFSVFF for 2025.
This is in addition to other contributions the town makes to the fire service, such as the 10-year lease of a Quint truck for $1 per year and paying for all its maintenance. Beaver said there are other contributions and the town offered to purchase a new or remounted ambulance for the fire department, but it has held off on accepting the offer for now.
“Winfield cannot control what other entities do on behalf of their residents or who they contract with for their services,” he said via email. “What we can control is trying to ensure we are making needed improvements for our residents. This is one reason we spent over two years attempting to convince the other two government entities a territory would be worthwhile. Since the territory path appears to be relegated, at least in the minds of some officials, to the past of Winfield and not the future, the town cannot sit around and hope and pray things will improve, we must continue to focus our energy on finding the best path(s) for delivering those much needed improvements to our residents and our public safety officers.”
The county’s current contract with the fire force ends Dec. 31 and Wiszowaty said the board and fire department will need to have “a very serious discussion” regarding the contracted obligation. Newly appointed secretary Don Niemeyer said that while the fire force has a bit of a leg up compared to other fire departments because it contracts with three surrounding municipalities, he knows they are facing cost hikes like everyone else. He said the county values the fire department, “but at the same time, as a percentage of the business we send to them, we’re getting Cadillac rates.”
LOFSVFF Chief Kevin Heerema disagrees with the “Cadillac rates” designation and said the county’s budget shortfall is news to him. “That’s the first that I’ve heard that number ever thrown out because they have not communicated that number to us,” he said by phone Wednesday. While in the past Heerema usually gives a report at the quarterly meetings, he said he asked to be on the agenda in July and for Monday’s special meeting, but wasn’t included. “I’ve asked to be on the agendas moving forward,” he said.
“For them to use the ‘Cadillac’ version of the service, I don’t agree with that at all, because you can see the town and township is funding quite a bit more than what the district is,” Heerema said.
In 2024, Heerema’s department responded to 901 calls for the town of Winfield, 424 for Winfield Township, and 266 for WPTFPD. They also responded to 123 calls for mutual aid from outside these three areas. A map of the service area can be found at https://lofsfire.com under the “About” tab. Look on the lower right.
As stated, the town of Winfield has 8,000 residents, while the WPTFPD has 5,000 residents and Winfield Township has 13,237 residents.
In other business, the board voted to ask the Porter County Council at its upcoming meeting Tuesday evening to authorize additional appropriations of $83,200 for the remainder of the year. The fire contract with LFSVFF accounts for $83,000, and bonds and insurance for the remainder.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
