Budget decisions have pushed the City of Clive to end a service sharing agreement with West Des Moines for a fire engine.
Clive has a $1.3 million budget deficit in its general fund, which includes public safety expenses. The end of an agreement for West Des Moines Fire Department Station No. 22 to provide first due fire engine service into Clive will save the city $420,000 annually, according to a Clive City Council document.
The council voted June 11 to end the agreement. Clive City Manager Matt McQuillen told the Register that means starting Jan. 1, 2027, Station 22’s fire engine will no longer be the first to be dispatched into Clive for nearby calls. But the station will continue to provide mutual aid, he said — if Clive would ask for help, West Des Moines would come.
McQuillen said the City of West Des Moines knew the decision was coming. And Clive officials also informed the neighborhood around the fire station in April of the plan. “This wasn’t a surprise to anybody,” he said.
The number of calls for service into Clive from the station has dropped in recent years because of Clive’s service agreements with Urbandale that shrank the response area. The Station 22 engine’s monthly average of calls into Clive shrank almost 58% from 2023 to 2025, while its calls into West Des Moines grew almost 22%, according to a Clive City Council document.
Almost 84% of calls for the engine were into West Des Moines each month, on average, in 2025.
Clive looking to other solutions to address budget deficit
There are multiple reasons for the city’s budget deficit that prompted the decision. Operating costs have been outpacing revenue, and public safety costs have been increasing faster than inflation, according to the council document.
Clive is making less income on interest because of declines in federal rates. Construction growth has also been slowing.
And the city’s financial challenges have been “further heightened by the passage of additional property tax reform reductions by the Iowa Legislature this past session with SF 2472,” according to the council document.
The new state law implements a 2% growth cap on local governments’ general levies, with exceptions for new construction, and an inflation-adjusted 10% homestead tax exemption up to $20,000. The law has been projected to lower Iowans’ property tax payments by $4.2 billion over six years.
Clive plans to incrementally resolve its deficit over the next two to three years and use reserves as necessary.
The city is looking at “many options in the form of expenditure reductions, revenue enhancements, expenditure shifting and offsets to other operating and capital funds,” according to the council document.
Phillip Sitter covers the suburbs for the Des Moines Register. Phillip can be reached via email at PSitter@usatodayco.com. Find out more about him online in the Register’s staff directory.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Clive makes budget call, ends West Des Moines fire engine agreement
Reporting by Phillip Sitter, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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By Phillip Sitter, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
