Fredonia Fire Chief Joshua Myers thinks the village focuses too much on his ambulance revenue.

Myers opened his 2026-27 budget presentation to village officials last week with a request: Stop expecting so much money.

He asked that the line’s name be changed to “estimated ambulance revenue.” The fire chief opined: “I think a lot of unneeded attention gets brought on ambulance charges, and where do we stand, and how we’re looking this year. That’s not the intent of this. This is cost recovery — we can’t make people pay their bills.

“As times get harder and everyone’s bills go up, (an) ambulance bill’s just yet another bill. So I worry that if we put so much attention into using that as a concrete number, that would be problematic.”

Myers then stated he wants his ambulance revenue line lowered to $450,000, from his original proposal of $550,000. Mayor Michael Ferguson envisioned $575,000 in the line when he presented his proposed 2026-27 village budget to trustees.

“Do I think we will overshoot $450,000? I absolutely do,” Myers said. “But, I don’t want to use this word, I’m very, very comfortable with the number $450,000 because I know we will exceed that.”

With an adjustment to $450,000, Myers sees $1,026,222 in “hard revenue” coming from the fire department in 2026-27.

Trustee Jon Espersen asked him why he changed his ambulance revenue number. “Because of how much attention is on it,” Myers replied. “I don’t like it, simple as that. Too much attention gets brought on every single month in these reports to the board, on ‘this is where we’re at for our revenue.’ I don’t know the purpose behind that.

“I think this ambulance cost recovery is an added benefit for us — because let’s face it, if no one pays their bills tomorrow, are we going to still provide the service? Probably.”

Myers continued that the fire department should hit $550,000 in ambulance revenue for the current, 2026-26 fiscal year. “It’s going to be very close, I think we’ll be just above it,” he said “But the more I thought about it, we’re going into troubling times, not only for us but for everyone, so we should leave a buffer there.”

Ferguson said he understands where the chief is coming from and doesn’t disagree.

Trustee Ben Brauchler stated that if $100,000 of revenue is slashed from village projections, “that’s baking in a 2% tax increase.” Ferguson’s proposal would already raise property taxes 2%, so such a cut could increase the tax hike to 4%.

“I understand that, I’m sensitive to that,” Myers replied. “But a revenue item in my budget is affecting the whole village. That puts a lot of pressure on me. …It puts us in a vulnerable position to budget on, ‘Oh, we think we’re going to get this.'”

Village Treasurer Erlyssa LeBeau said that any future revenue source is estimated, based on current numbers.

Ferguson made a side comment: “The pressure isn’t so much on the general public… the pressure’s on the ridiculousness of social media, the people who don’t watch these things, who don’t take the time to look at the work that goes into a budget. Nobody’s fluffing their budget, nobody’s padding their budget, nobody’s trying to make a budget look good. You’re trying to do the best you can with what you have.”

Myers went on to note that his fire department has leaks in its roof, and he plans a $60,000 repair over the equipment bays. Ferguson said his plan to add a new police department as an addition to the fire hall, “would also allow us to replace the roof in the same grant.”

Myers later asked for higher stipends for his assistant chiefs, and a $3,000 increase in his equipment safety line.

“We haven’t bought new masks, because we’ve had cuts. … If you tell me, ‘You’re at $13,000 and nothing we can do about it,’ I’ll make it work,” Myers said. “But the reason there is a recommendation to put a little more in there is, (if there’s) things I go without again, it’s going to reach a point where I come to the board and say, ‘We have to buy 10 masks instead of three.'”

Ferguson replied that he and LeBeau “go through the budget every year, but even though you’ve had a decrease in your requests, you haven’t spent what you’ve been given.”

Myers retorted: “I haven’t spent it because when I come to the board and say, ‘I need to buy a thermal imaging camera that’s in my budget,’ the request is denied.”

He said the Fredonia Fire Department’s projected operating cost for 2025-26 is $720,266, with $1,871,466 in expenses against $1,151,222 in revenues. “That’s pretty impressive, I’m proud of that. We provide a level of service that, I think, because I’m the chief of this service, is the best in the county.”

Myers later said that some things can wait, but “My big foot stomp is with that equipment safety (line). It seems trivial that I’m up here complaining about a $3,000 cut, but I want to fairly paint the picture that we’re not eliminating the need, we’re shifting it.”

Trustees made no public changes to Myers’ budget at the meeting.