Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register
A divided Springfield City Council on Tuesday approved borrowing more than $3 million for what some officials characterized as desperately needed vehicle and equipment purchases for the fire, police and public works departments. More aldermen supported two other ordinances at Tuesday’s meeting — one to authorize overdue contracts with five fire protection districts and another to set the salaries for city elected officials at their current levels for the next four-year term that begins in 2015.
The most controversial ordinance, to authorize financing $3.15 million worth of vehicle and equipment purchases including 40 police cars and a fire engine, passed 6-5, with Mayor Mike Houston casting the tie-breaking vote. Those who spoke out against the borrowing pointed to the city-owned utility being in a multimillion-dollar hole as a major reason for putting off the purchases, while those in favor painted the situation as a safety issue for emergency responders and the public.
During budget discussions, aldermen had set aside $2 million for equipment purchases. The ordinance that passed Tuesday was for financing that hiked that amount by more than $1 million on top of the initial amount. Of the $3.15 million, nearly $1.8 million is to be dedicated to police patrol car purchases, $638,000 to a fire engine and the remainder to various public works department equipment purchases.
Ward 1 Ald. Frank Edwards, Ward 2 Ald. Gail Simpson, Ward 5 Ald. Sam Cahnman, Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin and Ward 8 Ald. Kris Theilen voted against the ordinance. “I think we need to live within our means,” McMenamin argued.
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Fire protection contracts
The city council Tuesday also approved contracts with five fire protection districts that are more than three years’ overdue, an apparent oversight on the part of the city. Despite not having a contract in place with the Lake Springfield, Southlawn, Woodside, Southside and South Oak Knolls fire protection districts since early 2011, the city has continued to collect payments and to provide services to those areas, Fustin said.
Aldermen voted 8-2 in favor of getting the contracts in place, which run from Feb. 1, 2011, to Feb. 29, 2016. McMenamin and Cahnman were the two dissenting votes. McMenamin wanted the council to hold off on making a decision because he said they had “insufficient” time to review the contracts before voting.
In 2008, the Springfield Fire Department collected a total of $522,787 from those five districts combined for providing fire protection services. That amount has fluctuated in the years since, and the budgeted amount for the current fiscal year, which runs through Feb. 28, is $577,000.
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Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 