After a mild dispute, Walker Township has agreed to reimburse New England Fire Co. No. 1 for some of its expenses.

On a unanimous vote, the township's board of supervisors on Thursday agreed to reimburse the fire company $2,376.The board's decision came after it heard from fire company member Charles Felty.Township secretary Ann Ostergaard said the reimbursement is for miscellaneous expenses, as well as one-third of the building expenses.Ostergaard said the township covers some of the fire company's expenses, mainly one-third of the fire company building expenses, because it is designated as the township emergency center.The township also covers some of the fire company's miscellaneous expenses as well, she said.Ostergaard said they are submitted to the township on a quarterly basis, and there is a fire tax that is paid by the township, which covers some of these expenses.In this year's budget, she said there is money budgeted for the fire company in specific expenses or equipment or materials that are needed, and so much for miscellaneous expenses.The amount the fire company submitted for reimbursement exceeded the amount budgeted for miscellaneous expenses, Ostergaard said.She said the dispute came into play because the bills they submitted were for the last quarter of 2016, but were payable in 2017.The fire company had already used up their 2016 allotment, so 2016 quarter four expenses will be paid in the first quarter of this year, while quarter four 2017 expenses will be paid in quarter one of 2018, Ostergaard said.She said the township did budget $10,000 more to the fire company this year, but it was for specific items, not just miscellaneous expenses.This isn't the first time there has been a dispute over finances between the township and the fire company.In November, the board agreed to reimburse the fire company for the prior year expenses, as well as up through this past September.That came after the board at a special meeting in October tabled the approval of the payment of the bills to the fire company.