LETTERS: What should be done?
To the Editor:
I am writing this letter to ask patrons of the City of Lost Springs and Lost Springs Township about the idea of creating a fire district.
The reason I am writing this is because the city and two-thirds of the township board are at odds and I am looking for some feedback. We have recently built a new fire station and our next step is to lower our fire rating from a 10 to a nine in order to reduce insurance costs for the people of both the township and city as well as the school district in general.
In order to become a fire district, both the township and city must go in front of the county commissioners to ask, then the commissioners would look at operating costs of the station on a yearly basis and establish a budget based on a mill levy increase strictly for the fire district. This may mean an increase of about two mills for the township. I know the head of the township board is against this and he seems to be speaking for everyone else. I'm curious to find out what the people think and if this has even been brought up to them in a meeting of some sort.
The township board seems to feel that we, the city, must accommodate them in some way, in fact that was mentioned in our last city meeting by the head of the township board. If I am not mistaken, the city of Lost Springs has already been accommodating in the sense that we are paying for half of everything the fire station has and doing this with only a small percentage of the population that exists within the township area or so called fire district to be.
The township of Lost Springs is valued at over two million dollars where as the city is valued at about $206,000 but yet we are paying half the cost. Ninety-nine percent of all fires that the fire department is called upon is a township fire not a city fire, yet the city is paying half the cost. I would say that this is more than accommodating.
I would like to invite all patrons of both the township and the city to attend our next city meeting which will be held at 7:30 p.m. May 8 at Centre Elementary School. We will again be discussing the idea for creating a fire district and having a fire district board appointed in which it will have its own budget to do what it needs in improving our rating, lowering our insurance costs, and improving our quality of life in this area of Marion County.
In closing I have one final thought. What does the township do with all the money they acquire other than spend a small percentage to the fire station at the end of each year? When do they hold their meetings in which you the township people could attend as mentioned in the Kansas Open Meetings Act? Just curious, maybe you should be too.
Greg Wyatt (Mayor)
Lost Springs
