Wheatland to pursue address identification signs

The Wheatland Town Board will pursue installing address identification signs next year at the request of the Town of Wheatland Fire Department.

The matter came up at a special Town Board meeting Monday and then latter at a budget hearing.

Fire Chief Alan Kaddatz said the signs are needed to make it easier — and quicker — to find the correct address during emergencies.

“Tim Popanda (building inspector) has been doing a great job of getting people to put up their numbers,” Kaddatz said. “It’s not organized enough, it’s not uniform enough. We’re driving down the road at 2 in the morning and we don’t know where people have put their numbers.”

About a dozen other members of the fire department also were in attendance at the budget hearing to show support for the request.

A few years ago, the department obtained a quote of $40 per residence for the signs. The town has about 1,340 residences. That would be a total cost of $53,600.

The Town Board discussed several ways of paying for the project, including a special charge on 2011 tax bills paid in 2012.

But town attorney Jeff Davison suggested the administrative costs of levying such a charge might be prohibitive. He suggested paying the cost out of reserves and paying back with additional taxes in the general budget next year. That approach could be problematic because of state-imposed tax levy limits, town Clerk Sheila Siegler said.

Town Chairman Bill Glembocki suggested the town take out a loan, which could be paid back gradually to minimally impact taxes. It also would fall outside the tax levy limit, Siegler said.

The funding issue was not finalized, but the board did instruct staff to prepare requests for proposals for the signs so an acurate and up -to-date cost could be defined.