Zink: Fire and EMS budgets are 'flip-flopped'

The specific costs for individual runs for EMS is a figure that is unknown by the city of Hillsboro, although city officials have stated that is a figure they would like to have.  

Hillsboro Mayor Dick Zink told the Hillsboro City Council Monday that budgeting for Hillsboro Fire and Rescue is "flip-flopped" because the fire portion of the budget is larger than the EMS portion, even though there are three times as many EMS calls.  

Zink gave council a timeline of the events regarding the EMS contract negotiations with the townships, beginning with council's May 2010 vote to allow Hillsboro Safety and Service Director Ralph Holt to negotiate increases in the fire service contract with Hamer, Jackson, Liberty, New Market, Paint, Penn and Washington townships, to a letter Holt sent out March 17 giving the townships 90 days' notice that EMS will be cancelled to the townships.  

He then explained that, "in 2010 outside the city totaled 271 fire calls. EMS calls totaled 1,044. This equates to 773 more EMS calls than fire. I think the budgeted dollars are actually reversed. There should be more money in the budget for EMS and less for fire to balance it out." 

Zink also said that Hillsboro Law Director Fred Beery had been told by Highland County Prosecutor Jim Grandey - legal counsel to the townships - that he did not want the city communicating directly with the townships on that matter.  

"At the present time, we still want to talk to the trustees to see if there would be something that we could work out to get some support to help cover the cost of EMS coverage for the rest of the year," Zink said to council. "I personally do not want to see the coverage stopped. But I also feel the county prosecutor, nor the city law director, are responsible for maintaining the city's budget. I do feel that it is essential for the safety service director to be able to explain to the trustees on an individual basis, the costs of providing these services. It's not fair for the citizens of Hillsboro to continue to see other services reduced, while at the same time EMS services are provided free to townships outside the city limits. The city administration office needs to talk to the trustees in order to come up with a practical solution for the remainder of 2011." 

Zink then said he had "read an article in the paper that EMS calls more than paid for themselves." 

Following the meeting, Zink told The Highland County Press that he was referring to an April 4 story in which the HCP compared figures the city had provided the townships regarding EMS to budget figures on how much it takes to run the EMS portion of Hillsboro Fire and Rescue. 

The article examined figures for EMS, not for fire runs.  

As previously reported in The HCP, Holt wrote in a March 23 letter to Grandey that the city received $273,617.56 in 2010 from insurance companies billed for the runs. According to the city's 2010 expense reports for EMS, the total amount of expenses and encumbrances for EMS in 2010 was $104,345.91. That number is how much it takes to run all EMS services, inside and outside the city. Hillsboro Auditor Gary Lewis said the city does not report figures to him regarding whether runs are inside or outside the city limits, so there is not a figure on how much it specifically costs each time the city makes an EMS run to a township. 

Zink told the HCP that while the figures reported are correct, they were a "smoke screen" that "doesn't tell the whole story." 

"I think Mr. Lewis can clarify this budget reversal on fire and EMS," Zink told city council during the meeting. "It's something that's been done for years, and when EMS was first started, it wasn't that big a deal. There wasn't that many runs. In the years since ... they have flip-flopped to where there are about three times more runs with EMS outside the city than there are fire calls. So I think Gary can probably enlighten you a little more on that." 

Council president Lee Koogler asked Lewis if he had anything else to add to the mayor's report.  

"No, I don't have anything right now to add to it," Lewis said.  

The auditor told council that he would answer any questions they had. Council did not respond to Zink's report and did not ask Lewis any questions.  

Zink asked Lewis, "Am I correct that the budget is way higher for fire than it is for EMS?" 

Lewis said, "There is no doubt the amount of work is significantly higher for EMS than what it is with regard to fire calls that we have, and everything. A lot of questions come into play. Initially what the mayor mentioned, (EMS) started out as a secondary service, an ancillary service, if you will. But as time has progressed, it has grown considerably." 

The city, Lewis said, needs to have "everybody get on the same track and understand which direction we need to go with this. Is EMS the primary service now, or is fire the primary service, or vice versa? Those are questions we need to explore and come to a conclusion with. There's quite a bit more work that we could do." 

Zink told The Highland County Press following the meeting that the $104,345.91 for the total cost of EMS "only includes part-timers and overtime. Wages for EMS and gas for EMS all does not come out of that. And I will go to my deathbed telling you that." 

The wages and additional expenses for EMS comes out of the fire portion of the budget, Zink said.  

When asked how much he believed it actually costs to run the EMS portion of the department, or how much each EMS run actually costs, Zink said he didn't know, but he would like to. Zink said he agreed it is a figure that the townships are entitled to know as well.  

"Every time you turn around, something costs more," Zink said. "We don't keep up with it in the revenue." 

Zink said the reason the city had to cancel EMS to the townships was because the city cannot afford to keep providing the services for free because "it's creating a deficit." 

When asked if he thought the EMS services cost more than $746,835.54, Zink said he didn't know, but that it probably was more than that.  

"If (the townships) have a little extra money in their general fund, and they would say, 'we could help in some way'" the city might not discontinue services, according to Zink.  

Zink said that the townships did not begin negotiating with the city in 2010, "until it was too late to put a levy on the ballot."  

The Ohio Revised Code prohibits funds specifically collected through a levy for fire services to be spent on anything else, including EMS. The townships have stated they intend to put levies on the November 2011 general election ballot.  

Following the council meeting, Lewis told The Highland County Press that he had spoken to the Auditor's Office of the State of Ohio about having a performance audit done for the city.  

Unlike a regular audit which examines the bookkeeping done by the city, a performance audit would examine the efficiencies and inefficiencies in the way the city is run.  

Lewis said it would take three to four months to perform, and "it's like a cost-analysis on what it takes to run the departments." 

He is also looking into what it would cost to have the performance audit done and the possibility that the payment could be deferred until 2012 so that cost-savings gleaned from correcting inefficiencies could pay for the audit.  

Lewis said he is gathering information and will present it to the administration and council and hopes that "all members will be amenable to this type of solution and move forward with confidence and trust." 

Zink said he thought a performance audit would be "super. Because then we would all know we're singing out of the same hymn book."