The Teton County Board of Commissioners and the Town of Jackson council directed staff to revise the Jackson Hole Fire & EMS Joint Powers Agreement to use a combined weighted funding formula that assigns 25% weight each to incident count, population served, staffing and fleet.

Tyler St. Clair, Jackson town manager, and Jody Pond, county staff, summarized months of work based on a consultant report (Emergency Services Consulting International). The consultant presented options in August; the county previously recommended a combined weighted factor that differed in construction from the town’s earlier proposal. Staff said their role was to present options and return with a recommended motion for the boards to consider.

Commissioners and councilors debated whether to weight factors under local policy control (staffing and fleet) more heavily than fact-based measures (incident count, population or assessed valuation). County staff emphasized the history of prior splits (54/46 phased to 57/43), and noted inconsistencies in how capital and building-maintenance costs had been allocated when county or town owned specific facilities. Jody Pond told the boards that staff will return in January with a consistent proposal for building maintenance and indirect costs.

Commissioner Gardner pressed the department on rapid budget growth shown in the ESCI report — from about $4.8 million in 2021 to roughly $10.38 million in 2025 — and Chief Mike Moyer said early-year tables excluded a former Fund 11 (fire mill levy) that had been consolidated into the general fund, accounting for part of the apparent increase. Staff and the chief also cited wage growth and added full-time equivalents as drivers of higher costs.

After extended discussion, Commissioner MacKer moved to direct staff to revise the Fire/EMS Joint Powers Agreement to utilize the weighted combined factors (incident count 25%, population served 25%, staffing 25%, fleet 25%). The county approved the motion unanimously. The town council then took the same motion (moved by Councilor Beaman, seconded by Councilor Schechter) and approved it with a recorded result of 3 in favor, 1 opposed and 1 abstention.

Staff were asked to return with a consistent methodology for indirect costs (building maintenance, IT, HR overhead and similar items), and to model the fiscal impact of adding an indirect percentage to the proposed split. Jody Pond said staff expect to present those calculations in January and to consider jurisdictional allocation of building maintenance where a new station is added in the county.