LETTERS: Mayor responds
To the Editor:
I wasn't planning on writing another letter until I read the distortions and false accusations that the trustee of the Lost Springs Township placed upon myself and the city. Even after I read his letter, I was just going to wait until the meeting May 8 to address these issues, but I couldn't wait any longer.
In 1999, both the City and Township of Lost Springs had an opportunity to apply and possibly receive funding of about $200,000 to build a government approved fire station. All but $40,000 would be grant money and the rest would be the local share of both the township and city which comes to $20,000 each. The city, at the time, had CD money in savings that could have been used to cover our half of the building costs. This would have been a three-bay building which included all concrete work, electricity, heating, a meeting room, and a restroom/shower facility. It would have been a turn-key job, everything done by the book.
However, the township trustee rejected the idea claiming it was too much money and we didn't need to build a "Taj Mahal." He stated we could collect our own money and build one a great deal cheaper. The new building we currently have has cost us today in the mid $50,000 range and is not completed inside as of yet, at least not to what we could have had. To my recollection this is actually more expensive, not cheaper, and it has been done with taxpayers' money, many of you did not know that, did you?
Yes, the city borrowed $20,000 like the trustee mentioned, but he failed to mention that the city again was going to use their CD money when it became available to draw out or renew. One CD came due at the end of November, but because of the added expenses to the so called cheaper station, we had to spend it on electricity, heating, and extra concrete. Our other CDs come available at the end of May which will still pay the majority of our cost and we will finish it off with money generated from a mill levy increase of two years ago. Why the trustee feels that the city cannot hold up its end of the agreement is anybody's guess.
Two years ago the city and township raised their mill levies to generate money specifically for the fire station. The city mills increased by eight mills which generated approximately $2500 and the township increased by two mills which generated approximately $4500. This $7000, based on the mill increase, was to go directly to the fire station because that was the reasoning for the increase in the first place.
Last year alone the city, which pays all the expenses until the end of the year, paid out a little over $6000 in fire station expense just for improvements needed, particularly if we want to lower the community fire rating from a 10 to a nine and lower insurance costs. This figure alone is $1000 under the total amount generated by the mill increase, however, with the city and township paying half, the city actually spent $500 more than what was allotted and the township spent about $1500 less than it had generated for the station.
Two questions come to mind, one is where is the other $1500 that was earmarked for the station and two, why not pool this money together into a fire district fund, have the county commission select a district board and this conflict that seems to be an ongoing process between the city and township would be eliminated. Is that too complicated for everyone to understand? This would benefit all parties involved, would benefit the community, school district, township, city, etc
With costs continuing to rise, and the need to continue our quest to lower our fire rating, it may mean an additional increase in mill levy. From our figures of a year ago,
if the township was to increase 1.7 mills across the board, it would generate approximately another $3500 to $4000 to be added to the $7000 and this should be more than adequate to fund the fire district. A house valued at $15,000 would see an increase of about $25 to $27 in a year's time on their taxes. The city council, the fire chief, one of the township board members, and myself feel this is an asset to the community and beneficial in the fact that insurance rates will lower once the fire rating has lowered and you can make up for that extra in taxes through savings on insurance.
There is a scheduled meeting with the county commissioners at 10:20 a.m. Monday between the township board and city council to discuss and hopefully conclude this matter on a fire district for Lost Springs. It makes sense and would benefit everyone within the community.
The other point I would like to comment on from the trustee's letter is his absurd and slanderous remarks that the city cannot pay its bills. The city currently has a checking account of about $9306. Our monthly expenditures average around $350 - $500 per month, give or take a few dollars. Our monthly revenue averages between $350 - $1000 per month, give or take a few dollars and the time of year it might be. I have no idea where the trustee is coming from with his accusations about the city not being able to pay.
The entire point of this conflict is to do what is best for the community, both township and city, and I feel by creating a fire district it will be a benefit as well as eliminate the tension and conflict that seems to be ongoing between members of the township board and the city. In my opinion, it seems that the trustee is more concerned about how the situation is going to affect him rather than what is best for the people of Lost Springs city/township.
Greg Wyatt
Lost Springs
