The Minonk City Council weighed in on the ambulance service in the city with a heated discussion on whether the city can afford to run the ambulance service or whether it should be turned over to the fire department. Currently, the fire department is responsible for the ambulance service but the city administers the ambulance functions. Although the fire department is providing funds to the city for the ambulance service, it is not enough to prevent the city from having to take money from its general fund to cover the shortfall in revenue to cover a deficit to the tune of over $200,000 in the past 2 years.
City Administrator Austin Edmondson said the fire department will be raising its tax levy to the maximum of 0.30 in order to provide more revenue for the city to run the ambulance service. Mr. Edmondson said the new tax levy will increase the revenue to the city by $85,000 to bring total revenue up to $191,500. Mr. Edmondson said the new revenue will enable the city to run the ambulance service for another year without a deficit.
Mayor Bill Koos said the increased tax revenue is not a long term solution and will only cover next year's operations. He said the ambulance squad has not had a raise in over 3 years and that needs to be addressed. He said the city can rely only on revenue from property taxes, sales tax and reimbursements from ambulance charges. He said this has not been enough revenue to cover past operations and the city had to take money from the general fund to cover the deficit. He said it is not fair to the public for them to think that their tax bills are covering city services when in fact they are also covering ambulance deficits which takes away money from city services.
Alderman John Marcoline said he thinks the ambulance service is vital to the city and the ambulance squad has done a great job but said the city should turn the ambulance service back to the fire department where it belongs because the city cannot continue to run a deficit to support the service. He said one of the reasons for the deficit is due to people not paying their bills for the ambulance service and also due to a lack of payment from the government.
Alderman Russell Ruestman said he is willing to have the city incur a deficit of $50,000 a year in order for the ambulance squad to have 2 paramedics. He said the city is already spending $300,000 a year for police protection. Mr. Ruestman asked that the intergovernmental agreement with the fire department be brought before the council at the next session for a vote.
Elm Court Drainage Project
The council heard a report from a Farnsworth engineering representative on the drainage issue at Elm Court in the northwest side of Minonk. There is a leak in an 18 inch sewer tile that needs to be replaced and there also is a need to separate storm water from sewage. Three property owners in Elm Court need to agree on an easement in order to fix the drainage problems. The current easements will not cover both sewer and storm water lines. The engineer representative said sewer and water lines can be laid side by side in the same trench.
Mayor Koos asked that the sewer lines in questioned be videoed with a camera in order to determine the condition of the tile. When work is completed on the project, the storm water will be discharged to a field east of the city.
Ordinance on Sick Pay Overtime
The council approved an amendment to Ordinance 2016-009 that excludes sick pay from being used in computing overtime pay. Alderman Mark McNamara didn't think it was right to take away sick pay overtime from the workers. City Administrator Edmondson said it was his fiduciary responsibility to inform the council where it could save $8000 a year by eliminating sick pay when computing overtime hours. He said it is up to the council to decide if they want to do that or not. Mr. McNamara said he didn't think the city was going to save $8000 a year by excluding sick pay.
In other business, the council approved a one time payment of $1147.78 in TIF 2 funds for equipment at Petri's Pour House. The council also refused to approve an ordinance prohibiting truancy in the city. Alderman Marcoline said it is up to the school to take care of truancy, not the city.
Public Comments
James Liner said the city should have addressed the ambulance deficit years ago when they knew there would be a deficit. He said the fire department tax levy could have been raised years ago to provide revenue for the ambulance operations. He said the city should be billing other cities like Dana instead of the individual patient in order to make sure they get paid. Dana can then work on getting the money from the individual.
Jay Hurd said the city should wait to see how the tax levy increase plays out. He advised against jumping the gun and strongly urged the city not to give up the ambulance service.
Paul Vallow said if the 0.30 tax levy increase does not cover the ambulance service, then the city should take the money out of the general fund. He said the city needs the ambulance service and is disappointed with the city council's attitude toward the issue.
City Administrator Comments
City Administrator Edmondson said 21 people showed up for Shredding Day last Saturday. Trick or Treat Hours will be 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm on Halloween, October 31.