By Jeannine Otto
Daily Gazette
SUBLETTE, Ill. — The Sublette Fire Department will ask voters on March 17 to approve a 131.95% increase in the district’s tax rate to support a staffed ambulance service.
“We are not closing the fire station. This is all about staffing and trying to keep the ambulance staffed. It’s a matter of trying to put people on the ambulance, so this is going to create funds to staff it,” Mark Henkel, Sublette fire board trustee and president, told a group at an informational meeting Saturday. Another informational meeting will be Feb. 28.
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The department receives around $219,000 a year now in property tax funds. If approved, the district would see that amount go up to an estimated $412,396 a year.
The current tax rate for the district is .1898 per $100 of equalized assessed valuation. The new rate, if the referendum is approved, would be .51 per $100 of equalized assessed valuation.
A two-bedroom home in Sublette with a value of $140,630, would see its annual tax bill for the Sublette fire district go from $68.09 to $182.95. The owners of a four-bedroom home on a large lot, valued at $225,450, would see its annual tax bill go from $142.62 to $383.23.
The owner of 160 acres of farmland that is 100% tillable, with a 133 Productivity Index rating (Class A), would see their tax bill go from $234.10, or $1.47 per acre, to $629.02, or $3.94 per acre.
If the tax referendum is approved, the board is considering several ways to maintain a staffed ambulance service for Sublette, Sublette Fire Chief Kevin Schultz said. Those options include paid on-call, paid in-station and paid in-town personnel, who would be available for ambulance calls.
The department, which celebrates its 100th year this year, has seen a sharp increase in call volume, including for ambulance calls.
In 2002, when the district last asked voters to approve a tax rate increase for the ambulance service, the district had around 100 total calls per year, said Schultz.
In 2025, Sublette firefighters and EMS personnel answered 265 calls, with 170 of those being ambulance calls.
State law requires two emergency medical technicians on each ambulance call. Fire departments and ambulance services can apply for a waiver that allows one EMT and one emergency medical responder on an ambulance call. Sublette has applied for and been granted that waiver for several years. Schultz said that in 2025, the department was unable to staff two EMTs for 18 ambulance calls.
“We have been working through this for the past two to three years. This is not something that is new, but it is new to the public,” Schulz said.
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