City Denies Funding for Third Full Time Firefighter This Year (View PDF of City Budget Here)

June 19, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

A year ago the City of Smithville created and funded another full time firefighter position. More than $40,000 (salary and benefits) was added to the budget last summer to pay for it and Dalton Roberts was later hired for the job joining Chief Charlie Parker as the only full time paid members of the Smithville Fire Department.

(Click link below to view city budget)

Budget

Last month, Chief Parker requested that the city fund a third firefighter in the 2021-22 budget but the aldermen approved the new budget on first reading June 7 without including a new position.

Prior to passage of the budget on second and final reading Thursday night, Alderman Shawn Jacobs, who also serves as Commissioner of the Police and Fire Departments, made a motion that the third paid firefighter position be included in the new budget but his motion died for the lack of a second.

Alderman Jacobs said there is a need for a third full time firefighter and the city has the money to meet that need.

“If we had a third person it would be exponentially the amount of help that would be because they could truly fight a fire. Two people really can’t do that very effectively and in the day time only two or three volunteers show up for a fire. Someone has to run the pump, the engine and you must have somebody to fight the fire with a hose and someone to help hold the hose. I just think it would be a true benefit to the city. They get a call almost every day and many days they get multiple calls and since we do have what I consider a healthy surplus I would like to see us move forward. I feel obligated to go to bat for the fire department since I am their commissioner. Even Baxter has a paid fire department,” said Alderman Jacobs.

Alderman Brandon Cox said while it could be considered next year, now is not the time to act.

“Charlie (Parker) comes to us and asks for an employee (full time firefighter) every year and he got one last year which is good and I think it has helped out a lot but this is short notice. Although you (Alderman Jacobs) are right and we are probably headed in that direction (more full time firefighters) this just seems a little bit last minute for me and I don’t think I would support adding that at this point but I definitely think it is a strong consideration for one or maybe two next year I don’t know,” said Alderman Cox.

The Smithville Fire Department is made up of twenty six volunteers plus two full time paid firefighters (Chief Parker and Firefighter Roberts). The regular pay salaries of the two full time firefighters combined is $84,553 according to the budget. Although they are not full time, volunteer firefighters get some money per call. The city budgets $50,000 annually in total for that expense.

After the firefighter issue was settled, the Aldermen Thursday night adopted the 2021-22 fiscal year budget on second and final reading.

In other business, the aldermen voted to transfer city employee Megan Moore, former director of the DeKalb Animal Shelter, to a clerk position at city hall to fill a vacancy.

The new city spending plan includes a 2% increase in water and sewer rates and tap fees.

City water customers currently pay $7.25 per thousand gallons of usage. That will go to $7.40 per thousand. Rates for customers outside the city limits will increase from $10.88 to $11.10 per thousand. City sewer customers pay $6.75 per thousand gallons. That will jump to $6.89 per thousand. The new rates are expected to generate up to $50,000 a year in new revenue.

City officials believe its wiser to implement smaller rate increases now rather than larger hikes later to keep incoming revenues ahead of expenses and that is also the recommendation of the state comptroller. A year ago, the city’s water and sewer fund was projected to end the current fiscal year June 30, 2021 in the red by $37,713 but by keeping a close eye on spending the city is now expected show a surplus of $142,631 by the close of this month. This time next year with the rate increases included, the water and sewer fund is forecast to be in the black by $58,575.

Under state law, if a utility continues to operate at a loss for more than two years and doesn’t address it, the state has the authority to force rate increases to make it solvent.

The city property tax rate will drop from 0.899 cents to the new certified tax rate levied by the state of 0.7523 cents per $100 of assessed value to offset new reappraisal property assessments. Although the new certified tax rate is to generate about the same amount of local property tax revenue as this past year, the city is projecting $1,274,471 in property tax collections in 2021-22, down by $20,000 from $1,295,000 this past year (2020-21).

Still, the General Fund is projected to end the current fiscal year in the black by $388,766 on June 30, 2021 and $249,161 to the good by June 30, 2022.

The General Fund Debt Service for the new police department building is projected to be $177,550 for the year including $100,000 in principal payments and $77,550 in interest on long-term debt.

The new budget also includes funding for:
* A 3% cost of living pay raise for hourly city employees with more than four years of service. Hourly workers with four years of service or less will receive a step raise on their employment anniversary date with a 3% cost of living increase July 1. Salaried employees will get a $5,000 pay raise.

*Another paid E911 dispatcher position at $40,405 (salary and benefits). This would increase the number of city funded dispatchers to four to a total annual cost of $160,000, up from $119,595

CHANGES MADE SINCE THE FIRST READING OF THE BUDGET ORDINANCE JULY 7TH:
*City is to provide bonuses of $1,000 to full time employees of the general fund and water and sewer fund and $500 to two part time employees deemed essential with Federal American Rescue Plan grant funds. The total amount of the bonuses comes to $49,000 including $35,000 for the general fund and $14,000 for the water and sewer fund. The city is to get more than $1.3 million from this grant but the money can only be spent according to federal guidelines. The money will come to the city over two years and at least half of it will be used to replace deteriorating sewer lines.

*The city is increasing the uniform expense to the fire department from $10,000 to $25,000 per request of Fire Chief Charlie Parker to purchase new sets of turnout gear.

GENERAL FUND CAPITAL OUTLAY PROJECTS:
POLICE DEPARTMENT
*2 new police cars and related equipment: $95,000 ($45,000 of which is grant funded with local match)
*Furniture and office equipment for new Police Department building: $125,000

STREET DEPARTMENT
*Salt truck: $20,000
*Bridge capital repairs: $25,000
*Street paving $335,000 which includes $250,000 grant
*Unspecified: $15,000

FIRE PROTECTION
*10 portable radios: $9,200
*New Air Bags and Controller: $15,000
*Battery Powered Combination Rescue Tool: $10,000
*Swiftwater equipment: $5,000
*Site work for training site: $6,000
*Unspecified: $30,000

AIRPORT
*Obstruction Clearing Grant: $899,012
*Unspecified: $10,000

PUBLIC WORKS-BUILDINGS & GROUNDS
*Lift and Forks: $20,000
*Unspecified: $5,000

OTHER GENERAL GOVERNMENT
*TN Local Government Support COVID 19 Grant- $136,000

PARKS AND RECREATION
*Walking Trail Improvements: $20,000
*Unspecified: $10,000

MUNICIPAL POOL
*Strainer: $10,000
*Unspecified: $5,000

GOLF COURSE
*Unspecified: $10,000

CITY HALL BUILDING
*Unspecified: $30,000

FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION
*Unspecified: $5,000

SANITATION
*Unspecified: $5,000

WATER AND SEWER FUND PROJECTS (FIXED ASSET ADDITIONS):
*Meter reading software: $10,000
*Backhoe: $103,000
*Tube settlers: $30,000
*Replacement of sewer lines: $600,000 (Half of Federal COVID Grant Funds)

June 18, 2021
By:

The Smithville-DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce has announced the winners of the 2021 “Project Welcome Mat” in time for the 50th Annual Fiddler’s Jamboree and Crafts Festival July 2 & 3.

This year’s winners are as follows:

*People’s Choice – Tennessee Credit: “50 Years Strong, Covid Be Gone, Let’s Fiddle, Clap, and Clog All Weekend Long”

*Most Original – Wilson Bank and Trust” Half a Century Old, Fond Memories Told, Music, Crafts, and Food In a Jamboree Mood”

*Best Worded- Liberty State Bank: “50 Years of Crafts Abound, Fiddlin Sounds and Dancin All Around”

*Most Creative – Middle Tennessee Natural Gas:” Put on Your Shorts, Grab Your Shades, Going to be Huge 5 Decades”

Project Welcome Mat Honorable Mentions include: The Office of the Circuit Court Clerk; Creations by Donna; Love-Cantrell Funeral Home; RealSource, LLC; and Webb’s Pharmacy, Gifts & Soda Fountain & Advanced Urgent Care.

“We want to thank all the businesses for posting signs to welcome Jamboree visitors. We had twelve entries this year! It is very important to make sure that our guests know how appreciated and important they are to us,” said Chamber Director Suzanne Williams.

June 18, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

Should the DeKalb County Ambulance Service expand the hours of its day truck ambulance operation?

The answer is yes according to EMS Director Hoyte Hale and he met with the budget committee of the county commission Wednesday night to formally make that request.

DeKalb EMS currently operates with two 24 hour trucks (ambulances) seven days a week along with a day truck ambulance Monday through Friday each week from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. Hale wants to expand the use of the day truck operation to 12 hours a day, seven days a week to meet the increasing demands.

“Due to an increase in the population, lake related activities and transfers on weekends, the call volume has drastically increased. A day truck ambulance would be of benefit such as reducing safety risks to other crew members due to fatigue, greater county coverage and response time, employee retention, less wear on current ambulances and increased revenue due to transfers,” said Director Hale.

“Currently, during weekends the county has coverage provided by two ambulances. When hospital transfers occur, there is only one ambulance remaining to provide county wide coverage. During these times of single ambulance coverage, other calls occur and leave the county uncovered requiring these calls to wait for mutual aid (ambulances coming from other counties) to arrive. Within the last year, there has been 3,744 responses, 2,782 transports with a total of 175 out of county transfers on the weekends. A Saint Thomas EMS unit has transferred 90 of these calls due to a (DeKalb County) ambulance being out of the county on a transfer, resulting in lost revenue to the county,” Director Hale continued.

To adequately staff the expanded day truck service, Director Hale is asking the county to fund three more full time paramedics or AEMTS, EMTS to work Mondays through Sundays on 12 hour shifts. One of the two day truck crews would work two days on and then be off for three days while the other crew would work three days on and be off for two days.

Meanwhile, Director Hale plans to make application for an Assistance to Firefighters Grant to purchase three mechanical Lucas Chest Compression devices which can deliver automatic chest compression with minimal risk of interruptions during patient transport. If approved the county would have to fund a 5% grant match of about $3,125.

Director Hale is also asking that the county find money to purchase and install the Stryker loading systems on four ambulances at a cost of $25,000 each through either state or federal grant funding or local capital projects monies.

“What that would allow us to do is when we pull up on a call and get out, the cot would automatically come out and lower down and when we get the patient, place him on the cot and begin to load him on the ambulance the system would lift the cot with the patient and place it into the ambulance without the staff having to do any heavy lifting preventing any possible back injuries,” said Director Hale.

Hale’s requests further include funding for a newer four wheel drive EMS SUV with an equipment package.

“An SUV would be of benefit for response to 911 calls providing the space for necessary equipment in case of mass casualties, the capabilities to reach destinations with difficult access as well as use in traveling to trainings for continuing education. The current EMS vehicle is a 2006 Ford Crown Victoria with approximately 160,000 miles which does not have adequate space for the equipment needed and requires constant maintenance,” said Director Hale.

Price options for an SUV range from $26,634 to $35,457 according to three proposals quoted by Director Hale.

The budget committee has not yet acted on the EMS requests.

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