It's one town, served by two fire departments - Copenhagen on the west and Lowville to the east. 

The dispute centers on 80 wind towers that went up in the town of Harrisburg several years ago. 

The fire departments charge the town based on the value of all the property in the town.

"Consequently their town went up considerably because of the value of their wind towers, so their portion of our budget has gone up," said Tim Bush, 1st Assistant Chief of the Lowville Fire Department.

The wind developer pays most of the town's fire protection costs.

But for several years the town has balked at paying several thousand dollars extra.

It says using property value as a measure of need for fire protection is unfair.

But Lowville fire officials say their formula is the same for all five towns the department serves.

"If we do make a change for one town, then the other four towns will probably not be happy," said Bush.

Harrisburg's supervisor says there's still a chance of settling with the Copenhagen department by the end of the year.

But with the Lowville department,  it's not looking good.

He says the town is talking with seven other nearby departments about replacing Lowville.

With three weeks to go, he said he's confident the town will still have fire protection on January 1.

Bush said his department will continue to respond to calls in Harrisburg.

Copenhagen Fire Chief Mark Souva said his department will probably do the same.

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