NORWICH – Town of Norwich Supervisor David Law said it’s essential to explore all options available for the protection of taxpayers when it comes to saving the town money, which is leading him and members of the board to consider forming a new volunteer fire department and break away from a fire service contract they’ve renewed with the city for decades.

According to Law, consideration of the town’s own fire service stems from the escalating annual cost paid to the city for fire protection. For 2012, the town is contracted to pay $566,636 for the first year of a three-year fire contract with the city, with an option to renew the contract for two more years thereafter. The amount paid is nearly $78,000 more from the first year of a similar contract agreed to in 2007. Should the township renew the latest contract after the three-year base term, it would pay $616,477 in 2015 and $634,047 in 2016.

The Norwich Fire Department responded to 172 calls in the town last year, leaving Town of Norwich taxpayers to pay an average of more than $3,200 per call, Law noted. It’s an amount that could go down with the incorporation of a new, volunteer fire department, he added.

“There’s been a lot of discussion of how we’ve spent Town of Norwich tax dollars toward the contract,” said the supervisor, referring to increasing costs in recent years. “What we’re trying to do is make it affordable to all parties ... It would be very devastating to all of us if it ever had to happen; we have a good thing going. This is just a way of controlling costs.”

Estimates from the town show that start-up of a new fire department could reach as much as $1,080,000 ($400,000 for a new pumper; $500,000 for a station, supplies, and tanker; and $12,000 per person for the desired 15 volunteers for the department).