If the Nashville Town Council and Washington Township leaders were to raise property taxes to pay firefighters at the Nashville fire station, the increase would be between 1,400 percent and 3,500 percent.

Brown County (Nashville) Volunteer Fire Department Chief Nick Kelp gave his cost estimates to the Nashville Town Council last month at the council’s request.

Kelp’s calculations were based on a property assessed at $100,000 for tax purposes.

Right now, Nashville residents pay $9.60 per year for fire protection and Washington Township property owners pay $16.50 per year, Kelp said.

The Brown County (Nashville) station is run by volunteers. So are the six other stations throughout Brown County.

To fund the “most expensive-case scenario,” to pay firefighters to staff the Nashville station 24/7, property taxes would need to go up to $233.10 a year, Kelp said. If the department were to try to put money back for future equipment expenses as well, the total would be $266.40 in taxes per year on a $100,000 property, he said.

Both of those estimated increases would be for Nashville and Washington Township residents; and they would be on top of taxes property owners are currently paying to other local units of government for other purposes.

Taxes at those rates would bring in about $900,000 a year to the fire department, Kelp said.

For 2018, the department is budgeted to get $55,000 in contract money from the town and Washington Township together.

The town council took no action on this report at their October meeting.