Townships offer 10-percent increase to fire contracts; city said they must run the numbers WATCH THE VIDEO

  The seven townships currently receiving fire and EMS services from Hillsboro Fire and Rescue have offered to renew the safety contracts for 2011 at a 10-percent increase to fire services, with the option to negotiate for 2012-2015. Members of the city's administration said the taxpayers of Hillsboro are currently financially supporting those services to the townships, which is something that has to change.

       Highland County Prosecutor Jim Grandey, acting in his capacity as legal counsel to Highland County Townships, and representatives from Hamer, Jackson, Liberty, New Market, Paint, Penn and Washington townships, spoke to the finance committee of the Hillsboro City Council Wednesday regarding the pending fire and EMS contracts.

       As previously reported in the Highland County Press, council voted in May to authorize Hillsboro Safety and Service Director Ralph Holt to negotiate new fire contracts. The proposed increases for individual townships were between 42 percent and 77 percent.

       Grandey and township trustees asked council during their August meeting that they schedule a finance committee so a workable solution could be negotiated. Grandey said that as the contracts stand, the townships cannot afford to pay for the increases. Additionally, he said a portion of the new contracts would have the townships paying for EMS services, which Grandey said is not legal unless the townships have a separate fire and EMS levy, or the fire levy included EMS services.

       Grandey told the committee that he has met with council president Lee

Koogler and that he felt there was a better understanding now between the city and townships and that he met with township representatives prior to the meeting to explain the situation.

       "Townships cannot pay for EMS out of fire levies. The state auditor has ruled on that; it is very clear. In fact, I have been tipped off that the state auditor was going to really begin looking at us here in Highland County because apparently someone tipped them off," Grandey said. "It wasn't me, but that did come back."

       One of the reasons the townships wanted to bring the matter before council was because council ratifies the contracts of the city.

       "We do have a proposal for 2011," Grandey said. "And that would be that you take the current contacts for fire only, increase those by 10 percent for each township, and if you do that - meeting with the representatives this evening - I am pretty confident that those contracts will be passed and signed and sent back to you rather quickly."

       Grandey said that the new contracts are written to go into effect in January. From his meeting with Koogler, Grandey said it was noted the city normally would not negotiate contracts. Grandey said his suggestion is that Holt and Mayor Dick Zink put together a proposal for the townships and, "Get that to us, along with how the numbers were arrived at, I would then meet with them, and we either accept them or send you back a counter proposal."

       Grandey said that one thing that had become "very obvious" was that if the city was to begin charging the townships for EMS runs there would have to be new levies put on in 2011. With the current economic climate, Grandey said it may take some time before a ballot issue was passed and that the levies may not pass the first time out.

       Negotiating the contracts for 2012-2015, Grandey said, is necessary because the townships need to plan farther out how much they will need to ask for when considering a levy. Some of the townships, he said, had discussed looking for fire services elsewhere, though either joining another fire district or going out of the county where services would be cheaper. Grandey said ultimately, the townships are very pleased with the services they receive from Hillsboro, that they appreciate the work the firefighters do, and that they do not want to go elsewhere for services.

       "We've worked together well in the past, and I think we can still do that," Grandey said. "We don't want to end any relationships, we've got a good relationship. Your firefighters do a wonderful job, and we're satisfied with the service. The question is, how much can we afford to go up."

       Holt told Grandey that one of the biggest issues for the city is how much they are spending on providing fire services to the townships.

       "If you want to include fire and EMS, which we're not saying (you should not), we're going to have to run a levy that includes both fire and EMS so we can lawfully pay for it," Grandey said.

       "Right now, in the last year, we billed out $1,000,023, and we received back $440,000 or $430,000," Holt said. "That's the revenue we're receiving."

       Grandey asked if it was insurance companies the city billed, and Holt said it was.

       "The citizens of Hillsboro passed a levy for EMS," Holt said. "Basically, right now, what I see is that the city is supporting the townships on EMS."

       Grandey said, "That may be, but what we are saying is, we just can't pay for it right now," and that is why they are willing to pay the additional 10 percent now and negotiate for future contracts.

       "What I have to look at is what the auditor is telling us - it's all over the paper - that we're going down the tubes," Holt said, "And what I've got to do is try to protect the people that I work for."

       Grandey and Holt discussed that situation for a time, with Grandey

saying the townships were willing to pay, they just needed "lead time" to put on levies, and that the funds were not presently available. Holt said it was not the city's responsibility to pay for these services to the township, and he did not know why the townships did not meet with him months ago when the contracts were initially proposed. Grandey said he was "not going to go there."

       "We're not trying to throw a monkey wrench in, we're trying to work with you, not against you," Grandey said. "It's just that the increases that were given to us when the proposed contracts went out, those are impossible to meet. The size of the levy it would take would never pass."

       "So the county has no responsibility in providing fire services to the townships?" Holt asked.

       Grandey said that statutes say townships "may" provide fire services. "It doesn't say we have to."

       Holt said he was not trying to be "facetious" in asking, but "I don't understand who died and left us in charge."

       Grandey said they would pay for it, they just had to get the legal aspects take care of so they can pay for it.

       Finance committee chairperson Peter Pence interjected and said "That certainly sounds like a reasonable proposal. But I think the issue is, can we make it through next year? Can we get to 2012 to where we get the increase?"

       Hillsboro Law Director Fred Beery said there may be ways to receive "interim financing" that would help them "bridge the gap." While he would not necessarily advise it, Beery said, once a levy is passed, townships can borrow funds against the levy.

       Grandey said that the current contracts bring the city an estimated $191,000, and they are offering an additional 10 percent on top of

that. If the city can't work with the townships, he said, that is $191,000 the city will not have.

       Pence said he would get with Hillsboro Auditor Gary Lewis and have him run some numbers that the committee would consider.

       Hillsboro Mayor Dick Zink said that at this point, there have been 42 more squad runs by HFR in the townships than in the city and "1,939 miles more put on our equipment than has been put on in the city. We're spending a lot more money in the townships than in the city, and the city taxpayers are paying for it.

       Pence said that he could not say one way or another what council would do because, "It comes down to financial feasibility. You've seen the deficit numbers we've been faced with, and I believe the tax budget was under assumption that everyone would pay their fire contracts - and we knew that may or may not be a possibility. So what I'm saying is, our numbers, our projections, are that bad, even with you paying those numbers. Obviously nobody wants to put the townships in a position where you're basically floating in the wind, scrambling, trying to find fire coverage or EMS coverage."

       Grandey said, "We don't want to take money away from you all."

       Zink laughed and said, "You've been doing it for a long time."

       "But you've still been getting $191,000, and you could end up losing that, and that makes you worse off than you are."

       Zink said they would not be worse off because, "Then we would not have to furnish that service that wasn't getting paid for."

       Pence said the city was faced with possibly having "to lay people off in order to keep providing this service to the townships. That's kind of where we're at, cutting services to the city in order to meet the needs of the townships. I'm not going to sit here and give you a flat 'no'" but unless the city could "get creative with some bridge financing" it would be hard to make it with just a 10 percent increase.

       Koogler said it was going to be a matter of whether or not the city and the townships could reach a compromise.

       Council member Rod Daniels said he wanted to know if there was a way

to decrease the number of runs to the townships and Grandey said they

"Can't control who calls 911."

       Grandey said he wants to work with the city but as it is, "I guarantee you, we can't pay for EMS runs. You're not going to get a dime out of us because we're not going to have the state auditor come in and file a finding for recovery against the townships. If they pay one dime for EMS runs, that is going to happen. We're already been put on notice."

       Pence said that everyone was dealing with financial troubles and that it was not an ideal situation for anyone, "But that's where we find ourselves." He said, again, that he would meet with Lewis on the numbers and the committee would meet again to discuss the matter.

       "We hope we're sending an olive branch," Grandey said.

       Koogler said council was aware that time was a factor. Holt said that he approached the townships more than three months ago, in May.

       "I didn't want to go there, Ralph, but you've brought it up twice now," Grandey said. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was informed by the townships that you had indicated you would not meet with us as a group, you would only meet with us individually."

       Holt said that was because the contracts are individual.

       Grandey said they were all being treated in a similar manner, and he understood that they did not want to meet with every township trustee and their fiscal officer and that is why he was acting as the group's spokesperson.

       "But that's water over the dam, let's move forward," Grandey said.

       Pence stopped that discussion, saying  "Why people didn't meet or whatever, that's not where we're at. We're here right now and we have their proposal, we will work some numbers ... we will meet again and see where we stand."