Another town hall took place for the Ripon Consolidated Fire District on Thursday to inform the community about the challenges the district is facing.

The town hall was held at the Spring Creek Golf & Country Club. Among the issues Ripon Fire addressed was being understaffed while also being overwhelmed with multiple 911 calls.

"Many people don't know that we are not a part of the city," Chief Eric DeHart said. "We are a special district. Many people don't know that we just have one fire engine that's staffed for our fire district."

Along with one of their fire stations being empty due to a lack of funds, the district is operating with 1985 wages because of a special tax. Chief DeHart said they receive "only 5%" of property taxes within their jurisdiction.

"So all through the years with the cost of living and inflation and everything, that amount that we're collecting off that special tax just isn't enough to continue to deliver the high level of service that we are striving for," Chief DeHart said.

The lack of funds can delay services and responses to 911 calls.

"What we're seeing is, we're seeing a call volume rise and we're seeing more calls for service coming in at one time that we can handle," Chief DeHart said. "So what we're having to do is rely more on our neighbors, rely more on ourselves to answer those calls and, in many cases, we're not able to."

Ripon resident Mary Whitaker has first-hand experience with needing the fire department's services for an emergency.

"A few years back, my husband had a cardiac issue, and so I'm forever thankful for the fire department that was able to get to him and to be able to provide the emergency services that were needed so that he could recover and get back into doing the things that he needed to do," Whitaker said.

Whitaker has lived in Ripon for 40 years and said when she first moved there, the response time was "almost immediate." That's not the case anymore, she said.

"That's not a good thing when you have a medical emergency, especially," Whitaker said.

Chief DeHart said his district has hired a consultant to provide a comprehensive review of the fire district's financial picture.

"They are going to start working on the next tax measure for next year," Chief DeHart said. "So, probably in the spring or early spring, we should actually have some dollar amounts to present to the community."

Chief DeHart said his goal is that if they're "successful with this next tax measure," it would be for flexibility, including to get another fire engine to put into the system.