Bluffton income tax increase would go to safety services

BLUFFTON — If an additional 0.4% income tax request is approved by voters on Nov. 5, it could mean a full-time EMS department for the village of Bluffton. There are also needs in the police and fire departments, according to fiscal officer Kevin Nickel. "This is a new request. We've not done anything related to safety services before for the voters so this would be a new initiative," he said. Since it's an additional income tax, the amount it raises would vary depending on income levels in Bluffton. But Nickel said they're expecting the additional tax to generate around $1 million a year. The tax would be collected for 20 years, if approved. Nickel said the increase would come from earned income and wouldn't include Social Security benefits, pensions or retirement benefit payments. "It's on the income they have from employment or from rental properties or farmland that they rent, those kinds of things," he said. "And it's anyone who lives or works in Bluffton." According to the most recent census, about 4,000 people live in Bluffton and that includes Bluffton University students who live in town, said Jesse Blackburn, village administrator. Another 500 to 1,000 people come to Bluffton to work. "But not all those residents would have earned income," said Nickel. The average household income in Bluffton is about $74,000, Blackburn said. This would amount to just under $298 per year for a median household income, he said. For 10 years at least, the village has done a 10-year capital budget, projecting out needs for at least a decade. "And with some of the more recent cost increases that we've seen, we've actually increased that to a 20-year projection," Nickel said. "When we did that, this became an obvious need because seeing the increases now and projecting those out over 20 years, it was not something our general fund was going to be able to handle." Costs have gone up in the last several years, particularly for capital equipment, he said. "In a lot of cases, the costs have doubled over what they were on fire and EMS equipment," he said. Meanwhile, police cruisers are about 30% more expensive than they were a few years ago. "But the bulk of this is that we would like to move to a full-time EMS department rather than the volunteer, part-time staffing that we have now," Nickel said. The EMS department covers the village of Bluffton and the surrounding townships, particularly Richland and Orange townships, he said. They also do runs to Beaverdam in Richland Township as well. "We have mutual aid agreements with particularly Beaverdam. They have their own department, but when they can't meet a call, we cover their area. And they occasionally help us out as well," he said. Bluffton has been taking more and more of the calls out in those areas. Nickel said the number of EMS calls over the last 10 years or so has doubled. And getting volunteers is always a challenge, he said. "We're providing good service. It's not as timely as we would like and we have to rely more and more on mutual aid, too. So having a full-time department would alleviate those challenges," he said. It's an expensive proposition, he said. "But I think to keep a good, viable EMS service in Bluffton, when it comes to medical services, response time makes a big difference in the outcome of a call," said Nickel. "And so by having someone at the station 24/7, they can get out the door in just a minute or two which will dramatically make a difference, particularly those most serious of calls," said Nickel. He said the cost for Bluffton to run a full-time EMS department depends on a lot of factors, including how quickly they are able to hire enough full-time members. When fully staffed, they expect the annual operations costs for EMS to be about $1 million a year. A final town meeting to provide information about the additional income tax will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, prior to village council's meeting at 7 p.m. If the request doesn't pass, the next move will be up to council, said Nickel. "I think if it doesn't, we'll have to take another look at it. And it just might be a chance to get the word out about the importance of it if it does not pass," he said. "We'll see. We certainly aren't projecting doom and gloom here if it doesn't, but there certainly is a need for it."