GALVA – The Galva Council unanimously approved a 131 percent increase for continued service from Stark County Ambulance Service at Monday’s city council meeting.
City Administrator David Dyer said the City of Galva had been paying $8,400 per month for the ambulance service which has a building in Galva that is staffed seven days a week, 24 hours per day with a paramedic and an EMT. The new payment will be $19,400 per month.
“We have been fortunate. The owner has been subsidizing our service, as we were underpaying,” City Administrator David Dyer said.
“We as a council had no choice in this. We could either pass what we did, spend a lot more on a service, or have no ambulance at all. We had no choice,” commented third ward Alderman Wayde Buck.
Galva Mayor Rich Volkert said the city considered other options that were more costly or offered less reliable service. “This was the best possible deal,” he said.
The city will add a $10 monthly charge on every water meter in Galva to help cover the expense. The new charge will begin on the April water bill.
Even with that increase and the $40,000 the city can levy each year, there will be a shortfall of nearly $40,000, Volkert said.
He said the council will consider options to fund that shortfall in the months to come.
Dyer said residents in rural Galva and Bishop Hill will also see a 131 percent increase in property taxes through the Galva Fire District or the Bishop Hill Fire District.
“It’s not something we wanted to do and we gave other options as far as downgrading services,” said Jim Roesner of Toulon, owner of Stark County Ambulance Service. “(Galva) chose this route because they wanted to continue the highest level of care for their citizens, which is what they’ve had for the past seven years.”
Roesner explained that since his service first contracted with Galva in 2013, the “payor mix” has changed dramatically and the call count has increased. With more calls and fewer people paying, Roesner said, something had to change.
“When we took over that contract, 80-85 percent of the transports we had paid,” Roesner said. That number has declined steadily since then. “The fault I have in this is not pushing for a meeting sooner while we were suffering losses.”
Meanwhile, the payor mix has remained more stable in the other communities Stark County Ambulance contracts with: LaFayette, Toulon, Wyoming, Bradford and Buda.
“All of them have recognized some degree of raise, but none as large as Galva,” Roesner said. “Other districts have already been paying more due to their payor mix. And they have not had as large a change in that mix.”
In other action at Monday’s meeting, the Galva council heard that there were no replies on a request for proposals on the Galva Opera House block. This includes three storefronts and the opera house. Dyer said that the city will wait on a request for new proposals until new windows which were purchased several months ago are in and the COVID-19 situation is resolved.
The city received three bids on three new riding lawn mowers, one larger riding mower and a snow blower. The bidders were as follows:
• AC McCartney, $30,447
• German Bliss, $29,499
• John Deere, $25,300, which did not contain the snow blower.
The council unamously accepted the bid from AC McCartney because it was a front mount snow blower. This bid includes trade-ins.
The council approved the expanded Enterprise Zone in Henry County. It will include a new large animal vet clinic near Woodhull and also an expansion to the Woodhull Co-Op.
The council passed an ordinance for all landlords, making them responsible for payment for water bills for their rental homes. This is effective for any new tenants after May 1. The existing tenants will pay for their water bills and landlords are not responsible for anything not paid.
The City of Galva will collect from the renter on the water account.
The council also passed a regulation that nobody can discharge storm water on public streets.
The following mayoral proclamations were passed: Motorcycle awareness, Junior Achievement and Arbor Day to be observed on April 24 with a tree planted. This year’s tree will be planted on the east side of the Galva Food Pantry along North West 3rd Avenue.
The following checks were received from the State of Illinois: Jan/Feb personal property replacement tax, $1,462; January sales tax, $18,964; February MFT, $7.966; January Telecommunications tax, $3,034; February video gaming tax, $2,207; February income tax, $18,151; February local share cannabis tax, $181; January local share of state use tax, $10,694;
Alderman Jackie Clucas was absent from the meeting and was available by phone. The council is considering how best to handle future meetings.
5-16-24
5-17-24
More Photos
