BLUFFTON, OH (WLIO) - The Village of Bluffton began its public discussions with residents about a proposal to increase income taxes for safety services.
According to Bluffton's 20-Year Safety Services Funding Forecast, just under $42 million of expenses will be needed by the village to support fire, EMS, and police vehicles, capital items, and a Bluffton full-time EMS. On the flip side, 20-year projections only forecast revenue just shy of $13 million, leaving village administrators to come up with almost $29 million in funding. Thus, the village is looking to increase the income tax by 0.4% for Bluffton residents in order to keep up with current and future demands.
"From the EMS side, what's happening is on our side is our volunteer numbers are going way down. Currently, we have only 13 members of the organization. We're doing double the call volume that we did 20 years ago. We're running about 850 calls a year, whereas when I started, we were only experiencing 300 runs a year, so it makes a much more difficult time to cover these calls," says Chief Jan Basinger, Bluffton EMS.
"On the fire department side, we are a volunteer department, so we are seeing a decrease in some of our numbers as well; however, our run numbers are increasing. And of course, the cost of doing business as a fire department is going up whether it be cost of equipment, gear, apparatus, so that is where our need comes in for this additional funding," says Chief Jon Kinn, Bluffton Fire Department.
Bluffton village administrators will hold a second and final public meeting on Tuesday, June 18th, at 7 p.m. inside the Bluffton EMS Building.
