By Nicky Boyette – Eureka Springs City Council gathered early Monday for a 90-minute fact-finding workshop as they take apart and reassemble the 2017 city budget. Mayor Butch Berry invited Police Chief Thomas Achord, Fire Chief Nick Samac and Transit Director Ken Smith to speak for themselves about their budgets.
Achord said in response to the spending freeze imposed last spring, his department policy has been “fix it we must, put it off if we can.” However, Achord noted, “Some of our older vehicles are starting to nickel and dime us.”
He said last year he bought a used two-year old patrol car with 55,000 miles on it for $15,800 through a program conducted by the Missouri Highway Patrol. All of MHP’s vehicles are put out of service at 50,000-60,000 miles and put up for sale to government entities. Achord has been satisfied with the purchase and plans to replace his two oldest cars in 2017 with vehicles from the same program.
Smith reported Transit recently learned it had been awarded a grant for bike racks and a trolley. He also mentioned Transit would not ask the city to cover the matching amount of $48,300. Smith said Transit would cover it.
Smith also said it is getting harder to buy a trolley because there are hardly any trolley makers left. In fact, he has received only one bid so far for his next trolley. Berry pointed out that the Eureka Springs Transit Department is the only one in the state that is self-supporting, as all others get support from city or county governments. Smith said the revenue from the tram business makes the difference. He added that 40-50 local residents buy monthly passes.
Samac tried to explain his $80,000 2017 budget request for ten self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBAs) when he got ten new ones earlier in 2016. He said the units were purchased in 2003 with grant funds, and have a life span of about 15 years. Samac said four of his 37 units are out service, and remaining ones expire in less than three years.
He explained there are regulations regarding how many SCBAs are required per pumper truck and water tanker, and the arithmetic says his department needs to have 34 operational units to comply.
Samac mentioned he applied for a grant for five units from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and one for 30 units from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Alderman David Mitchell asserted it would make sense for council to keep the $80,000 in the budget for SCBAs, but hope the grants come through. He also informed aldermen he was developing a “quality proposal” for keeping the ambulance service contract with the Western Carroll County Ambulance District.
Samac reminded council to plan for future replacement of his ambulance fleet, and suggested setting up a depreciation fund and putting in $100,000 every year as a way to plan for it. Alderman Terry McClung agreed the city needed to include this kind of long-term planning in the budget. Berry said he was not confident the city could afford it. He suggested putting $40,000 in the budget for at least three of the SCBAs, and put the depreciation fund in later if the midyear budget allowed.
Berry said his office would set up a date and time for another budget workshop.