Administration, council members disagree on fire/EMS costs to townships WATCH THE VIDEO

Members of the Hillsboro City Council and Administration disagree on what township residents should have to pay for fire and EMS coverage, especially compared to what the citizens of Hillsboro pay. 

Council's finance committee met Thursday evening, at the request of Hillsboro Safety and Service Director Ralph Holt to discuss numbers associated with providing the coverage to Hamer, Jackson, Liberty, New Market, Paint and Washington townships. 

Council President Lee Koogler said that he had met with Hillsboro Auditor Gary Lewis earlier in the week to come up with a "methodology" on determining how much the fire/EMS services to the townships costs the city. 

The entire meeting took place in open session. Earlier in the week finance committee chairperson Peter Pence said Hillsboro Law Director Fred Beery felt that the township issues would need to be held in executive session because it dealt with contract negotiations. The Highland County Press had asked for a legal clarification on why the discussion would qualify for executive session according to the Ohio Revised Code. While no legal clarification was given, an executive session was not held. 

Beery attended the meeting, along with Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins, who is legal counsel to the townships. Hillsboro Fire Chief Jerry Powell was also in attendance, along with several firefighters/EMS personnel from Hillsboro Fire and Rescue. 

The city of Hillsboro has agreed to provide the townships with figures on how the city determine how much providing fire and EMS costs in each township.

Lewis explained the way he came up with the numbers, which began by examining the total cost of fire and EMS combined. He said that it is easier for everyone to understand if it was one figure instead of two. Lewis said he determined how much fire and EMS costs the city by itself, without the townships, because Hillsboro Fire and Rescue will have to operate, regardless of the contracting with the townships. 

"Just to reduce any type of confusion, we're talking about fire," Lewis said. "In budgets now, it's not going to be split by fire and EMS, it's just going to be split by fire. EMS is just going to be a service that is provided by our fire department - which it is. Working from that end, I knew what our costs were at the end of 2010, for all combined, was $1,482, 578. We took from that the concept of 'what would we have there, what would we be working with if we had no contracts at all. How far down could we go?'"

Lewis said it would be "stretching it" as far as services, but the department could be reduced down to eight full-time firefighters and the fire chief, for nine people to cover three shifts. 

Taking the budget requests, without the personnel, leaves $1,047,764, Lewis said. 

The $434,814 difference "represents what would be excess labor," Lewis said. Combing that with the difference in the pensions, he said, leaves $499,814. 

The city currently gets $219,579 for fire contracts, not including Penn Township, with soft billing collections at an estimated $235,000 (estimated because of the loss of Penn Township. Collections with it had been at $247,000).

"The difference that would need to be made up would be $45,235 per year, approximately," Lewis said. 

Lewis said that he then examined what the city has not been able to do in the fire department for the last three years due to a loss of revenue. He noted that since 2007 the city has had a decrease in earnings tax funds of approximately 19 percent. Calling it a "substantial chunk" of revenue, Lewis said it has reduced from approximately $3.6 million to $3.1 million per year.  During that time period, the city has not put funds back for replacing equipment. Previously, Lewis said, the city put back approximately $65,000 annually for major equipment purchases. The department will soon need to replace a squad, donated from the county in 1999, and a fire engine that is from 1989. Total replacement costs would be approximately $575,000. That equipment, he said, is necessary for providing services to the townships, so they should pay a portion of that. After consulting with Powell, who said approximately 46 percent of runs are in the townships and 54 percent of the runs are in the city, Lewis said he split the cost at 46 and 54 percent, respectively.

The townships' shares of equipment costs were then factored in at $60,000 annually, Lewis said. A total of $105,235 "needs to be addressed" for the equipment. In extending the services for five years, at 3-percent inflation that is $111,741. 

The township trustees have requested a cost of services per resident. Lewis said he was unable to find the population for the townships in the most recent census, so he had to use numbers from the 2000 census, which listed the six townships with a combined population of 12,000. The current cost per year is $17.81. Lewis said that $9.06 would be needed to cover the costs of the equipment, which brings the total to $26.87, which he rounded up to $27 per township resident. That would bring in an additional $113,000 per year. That would be combined with the current soft billing that the city does on EMS runs. Looking at the current financials of the townships, Lewis said that Hamer, Liberty, Paint, New Market and Washington townships would not have to put on a new levy for at least five years. Jackson Township might have to put on one within two years. 

Koogler said that it  was his understanding that Hillsboro residents paid more than $100 per year for the same coverage through the safety levy that covers police and fire services. Lewis said that the differences are not an exact comparison and that it's anywhere from $75-100 per person, as it varies with income. 

"Bear in mind, from a township's standpoint, what they're purchasing is labor only," Lewis said. "What we have on our side is we have the whole ball of wax. We have a building, we hire the person, we have the equipment and that sort of thing."

Koogler said that the numbers that the townships were being charged did not include the fire station. 

"That is correct," Lewis said. "The building would exist whether we had the contracts or not."

After looking over the numbers, Holt said that he disagreed with how the numbers were being calculated, because he felt Hillsboro taxpayers were still supporting township services. 

"This is a council decision," Holt said. "I just don't understand why if I live in Hillsboro ... I'm paying $106 a year. So I don't understand. I realize that this is our fire house, and our fire trucks and our employees, but we're paying for maintenance, education, training, we're paying for uniforms, all that," and to receive the same services as the townships. 

Koogler said that was because the city would have those costs no matter what, whether or not there were township contracts. 

Lewis said that only way around that would be to form a fire district where each township and the city had equal ownership and equal cost, although he didn't think that would be a good idea. He noted that a joint fire district had been discussed several years ago, but nothing came of it. 

Hillsboro Mayor Dick Zink said, (The townships) didn't want it because it would cost too much."

Holt said council needed to consider having a special meeting to ratify new contracts and numbers before the townships' June 29 deadline. When asked why there was such a deadline, Collins said that the townships needed the city's figures in order to study them and determine if a levy needed to be put on the November ballots. The deadline for ballot issues is in early August. 

Holt said, "Maybe it's none of my business. It's not my call, it's council's call. I think the amount per person, compared to what the city is paying, is too cheap. That is my personal opinion. 

Koogler said that from the numbers he had looked at and from what Lewis had presented, the per person cost made equipment replacement and continued operation of the fire department "feasible."

Pence said that he had been reading city ordinances and meeting minutes regarding the issues of fire services between the city, townships and Highland County, and that is has been an issue without a resolution for 30 years. 

"They were talking about this same issue in 1977," Pence said. "We need to quit putting a Band-Aid on something and be in it for the long haul." 

Zink said, "I think if we have the money to go ahead and fund outside the city for township coverage, we need to worry about funding two policemen that were retired last year, and we're running way short in that department. That's inside the city. That's my opinion." 

Lewis said that for the meeting's purpose and for contract purposes, he had only been asked to look at the fire department's financials. 

"We're got streets that need to be repaired. We've got a lot of things that we need," Zink said. 

Holt said that he receives numerous calls each week regarding the shape of the city streets. The potholes, he said, were not going to get filled with the current state of the city's budget, especially if the townships did not pay more for services, since it all comes out of the general fund. 

Lewis answered questions from Pence and finance committee member Dave Shoemaker regarding the several pages of financial figures that had been presented. Both Pence and Shoemaker said that they would like to read over the numbers and meet at a later date when they understood them better. 

Shoemaker asked Lewis a few more questions, saying that, "If you don't know anything going out the door, you'll know less coming back in."

Shoemaker said that it was his intention when he voted for the contract in November to give the townships plenty of time to consider a levy, and he wanted to make sure they had their numbers in time to make an informed decision. However, he said that he would not bring up the fact that the townships had time to put a measure on the ballot last year. 

"To me, that's a non-issue now," Shoemaker said. "But it's going to be a place of push comes to shove."

Pence and Shoemaker said they would consult with committee member Bill Alexander, who was not in attendance, before setting another meeting date. 

Prior to the adjourning of the meeting, Pence asked Holt to explain his decision-making process when he decided to send a letter in March giving townships notice that their EMS would be cancelled. 

"For clarifiation purposes, I think it's important that there is an understanding about where the administration came up with their information when making the decision to send out the letter," Pence said. 

"Holt said, "My understanding was that we were going to carry over $70,000 for 2012, and making runs to the townships, I thought we couldn't afford it ... The $70,000 that we are carrying (over to 2012) basically came from the street department. And those streets that I keep getting calls about, they're not going to be fixed. If we don't have the monies to do what we're supposed to do, but we've got money to provide services to the townships. That's the glitch." 

"I understand that," Pence said. "That's why I asked you the question."

"There's the answer," Holt said.