City ratifies township fire, EMS contract proposal, with 18-percent increase WATCH THE VIDEO
Lead Summary
By
Brandy Chandler-brandychandler@gmail.com
The Hillsboro City Council has voted to ratify a proposed contract with area townships to provide fire services with an increase of 18 percent for each township over what was paid in 2010. The city will discontinue EMS services by June 2011 if the townships choose not to, or fail to pass a ballot initiative that would provide funding for EMS services, according to the contract proposal.
Townships cannot legally pay for EMS services out of levy funds that are specified for fire services. By giving them until June, according to the city, the townships have time to come up with a funding plan, or seek other services.
Hillsboro Safety and Service Director Ralph Holt presented the contract to council during its Nov. 8 regular meeting. He said that on Nov. 5 he spoke with Highland County Prosecutor Jim Grandey, legal counsel for Hamer, Jackson, Liberty, New Market, Paint, Penn and Washington townships, regarding the fire and EMS services provided by the city. Holt told council that Grandey indicated he would be meeting with the townships that night to discuss the contracts. Holt said that as of Monday evening he had not heard back from them.
Hamer and Liberty townships have each scheduled special meetings for this week to discuss the contracts. On Oct. 18, represented from each of the townships, except Jackson, met informally to discuss the fire and EMS services. The negotiations have been an ongoing issue since council voted in April to allow Holt to negotiate increases to the contracts. The townships have said those increases in the fire contracts were between 42 percent and 76.34 percent. The townships have subsequently countered with offers of a 10-percent increase, and a 12-percent increase for 2011 services, with the options of negotiating the contracts for 2012.
The finance committee of the Hillsboro City Council has discussed the matter several times in executive session, but the matter has not been discussed in open session by the city since an Aug. 25 finance committee meeting.
Holt said Monday he had presented council with the proposed contract, and council president Lee Koogler asked council if they had read the proposal. After a moment with no responses, Koogler said, "By lack of answer I am going to assume that means yes. With what is prepared and presented, is there a motion to essentially ratify what the safety and service director has proposed?"
Without discussing openly or stating what the proposal was, council member Mary Brown Turner made a motion to ratify, which was seconded by council member Dave Shoemaker. Council voted 7-0 to ratify the proposal.
Koogler gave his copy of the proposal to the Highland County Press following the meeting, which showed the following numbers:
Fire Contracts
Township 2000 (census) population 2011 contract ($17.81/resident)
Liberty 3,430 $61,088
Paint 4,112 $73,235
New Market 1,941 $34,568
Jackson 1,099 $19,573
Hamer 699 $12,449
Penn 1/3 351 $6,251
Washington 1,048 $18,665
"These fire contracts will constitute an 18-percent increase to each of the townships from the 2009-2010 contracts and would begin on Jan. 1, 2011 and expire on Dec. 31, 2011," according to Holt's proposal.
EMS contracts
"The city of Hillsboro will provide EMS services to those townships that we now provide fire contracts with until June 1, 2011. After that date the city will charge the townships for each run based on the formula provide below," according to the proposal. "This will allow the townships the opportunity to present this service to their constituents and place it on the ballot for the May (primary) election. If any or all of the townships choose not to put this on the ballot in May, or it is defeated at the polls, the city of Hillsboro will discontinue service of EMS to those townships. "
The following formula will be used in determining the costs to the townships, based on the types of EMS runs the call is for: A BLS run, $485; an ALS1 run, $836; an ALS2 run, $1,003. A cost of $225.40 will be added for milage, which was reached by a cost of $11.27 per mile, for an average of 20 miles per run. The total cost for the runs, $2,549.40, divided by four is an average of $637.35, according to the proposal. The number multiplied by the township's average number of runs determines the average yearly run rate.
Township 2000 (census) population Average run per year 2012 contract
Liberty 3,430 193.6 $123,3090.96
Paint 4,112 270.8 $172,594.38
New Market 1,941 75.4 $48,056.19
Jackson 1,099 50.4 $32,122.44
Hamer 699 21.4 $13,639.29
Penn 1/3 351 17.8 $11,344.84
Washington 1,048 34.5 $21,988.57
Holt had previously said that because the city had not increased the rates to the townships as expenses grew, the citizens of Hillsboro have ended up paying for services to the townships through their safety levy. When asked by The Highland County Press if the proposed contract would help close that gap in the funding, Holt said, "It's going to help." The city will continue to soft bill for EMS runs, Holt said. The city bill out more than $1 million for EMS services to the townships last year, he said, and only collected around $400,000.
The townships have said they cannot afford the increases that had initially been proposed by the city and had looked into alternatives to contracting with Hillsboro, including joining other fire districts, or starting their own fire district. According to the Ohio Revised code, townships may provide fire services, but they are not required to provide fire services.
The Hillsboro City Council has voted to ratify a proposed contract with area townships to provide fire services with an increase of 18 percent for each township over what was paid in 2010. The city will discontinue EMS services by June 2011 if the townships choose not to, or fail to pass a ballot initiative that would provide funding for EMS services, according to the contract proposal.
Townships cannot legally pay for EMS services out of levy funds that are specified for fire services. By giving them until June, according to the city, the townships have time to come up with a funding plan or seek other services.
Hillsboro Safety and Service Director Ralph Holt presented the contract to council during its Nov. 8 regular meeting. He said that on Nov. 5, he spoke with Highland County Prosecutor Jim Grandey, legal counsel for Hamer, Jackson, Liberty, New Market, Paint, Penn and Washington townships, regarding the fire and EMS services provided by the city. Holt told council that Grandey indicated he would be meeting with the townships that night to discuss the contracts. Holt said that as of Monday evening, he had not heard back from them.
Hamer and Liberty townships have each scheduled special meetings for this week to discuss the contracts. On Oct. 18, representives from each of the townships, except Jackson, met informally to discuss the fire and EMS services. The negotiations have been an ongoing issue since council voted in April to allow Holt to negotiate increases to the contracts. The townships have said those increases in the fire contracts were between 42 percent and 76.34 percent. The townships have subsequently countered with offers of a 10-percent increase, and a 12-percent increase for 2011 services, with the options of negotiating the contracts for 2012.
The finance committee of the Hillsboro City Council has discussed the matter several times in executive session, but the matter has not been discussed in open session by the city since an Aug. 25 finance committee meeting.
Holt said Monday he had presented council with the proposed contract, and council president Lee Koogler asked council if they had read the proposal. After a moment with no responses, Koogler said, "By lack of answer I am going to assume that means yes. With what is prepared and presented, is there a motion to essentially ratify what the safety and service director has proposed?"
Without discussing openly or stating what the proposal was, council member Mary Brown Turner made a motion to ratify, which was seconded by council member Dave Shoemaker. Council voted 7-0 to ratify the proposal.
Koogler gave his copy of the proposal to the Highland County Press following the meeting, which showed the following numbers:
Fire Contracts
Township/ 2000 (census) population/ 2011 contract ($17.81/resident)
Liberty/ 3,430/ $61,088
Paint/ 4,112/ $73,235
New Market/ 1,941/ $34,568
Jackson/ 1,099/ $19,573
Hamer/ 699/ $12,449
Penn 1/3 351 $6,251
Washington/ 1,048/ $18,665
"These fire contracts will constitute an 18-percent increase to each of the townships from the 2009-2010 contracts and would begin on Jan. 1, 2011 and expire on Dec. 31, 2011," according to Holt's proposal.
EMS contracts
"The city of Hillsboro will provide EMS services to those townships that we now provide fire contracts with until June 1, 2011. After that date the city will charge the townships for each run based on the formula provided below," according to the proposal. "This will allow the townships the opportunity to present this service to their constituents and place it on the ballot for the May (primary) election. If any or all of the townships choose not to put this on the ballot in May, or it is defeated at the polls, the city of Hillsboro will discontinue service of EMS to those townships. "
The following formula will be used in determining the costs to the townships, based on the types of EMS runs the call is for: A BLS run, $485; an ALS1 run, $836; an ALS2 run, $1,003. A cost of $225.40 will be added for milage, which was reached by a cost of $11.27 per mile, for an average of 20 miles per run. The total cost for the runs, $2,549.40, divided by four is an average of $637.35, according to the proposal. The number multiplied by the township's average number of runs determines the average yearly run rate.
Township/ 2000 (census) population/ Average run per year/ 2012 contract
Liberty/ 3,430/ 193.6/ $123,3090.96
Paint/ 4,112/ 270.8/ $172,594.38
New Market/ 1,941/ 75.4/ $48,056.19
Jackson/ 1,099/ 50.4/ $32,122.44
Hamer/ 699/ 21.4/ $13,639.29
Penn 1/3/ 351/ 17.8 /$11,344.84
Washington/ 1,048/ 34.5/ $21,988.57
Holt had previously said that because the city had not increased the rates to the townships as expenses grew, the citizens of Hillsboro have ended up paying for services to the townships through their safety levy. When asked by The Highland County Press if the proposed contract would help close that gap in the funding, Holt said, "It's going to help." The city will continue to soft bill for EMS runs, Holt said. The city billed out more than $1 million for EMS services to the townships last year, he said, and only collected around $400,000.
The townships have said they cannot afford the increases that had initially been proposed by the city and had looked into alternatives to contracting with Hillsboro, including joining other fire districts or starting their own fire district. According to the Ohio Revised Code, townships may provide firefighting services, but they are not required to provide these services.