One of our snowplow operators was stopped by a Peoria Heights citizen the other day, and he was told, "We gotta get ourselves a new mayor. Our taxes are too high." Now, mind you, this statement was made by one of the Peoples Party trustee candidates in the upcoming election; but, more importantly, the statement is really politicized without anything to back it up. However, I'm betting it will be one of the headlines in the newest Peoples Party "literature."
First, the only item that we have any control of, regarding the property taxes in the Village is listed as "Peo Hts" on your real estate tax bill. If you have yours handy, you might want to check it out. For our home's 2009 real estate taxes, our total tax due was $3,528.40. Of that amount, the "Peo Hts" figure was a staggering $52.53. For the 2008 tax bill, the "Peo Hts" figure was $52.02. This is an unbelievable increase of 51 cents over the previous year. To make things even more convoluted, the "Peo Hts" rate for 2007 was $53.34; and for 2006, it was $63.08. So, actually, the "Peo Hts" section of the tax bill, the one that we have control have, has decreased by $10.55 on our tax bill, from 2006.
Should we take credit for that? There are formulas and other things that go into what comes into the Village through property taxes, many which are applied by the County, and in the end, it is what it is. The Peoples Party trustee candidate appears to be a bit mixed up regarding what effect the mayor has on the imagined tax "increase," but also on the actual tax "decrease." You might want to keep that in mind when you receive your handy-dandy Peoples Party circular in a couple months or so.
Several weeks ago, we had to have a "Truth in Taxation" meeting at Village Hall, as the total rate for the increase in Heights property taxes was going to exceed the allowed "under 5%" figure. This gets a bit confusing, but the bottom line is that the Village can increase its tax rate, at least on the surface level, at just under 5%, per year, without having a "Truth in Taxation" meeting. The Village has done this for decades, with an increase of just under 5%; and thus avoiding these special meetings.
Even with these surface level "increases," the actual tax rates can go down from year to year; the Village tax rate was .16983 in 2006, and then went down to .14227 in 2007, then down to .13523 in 2008, and down again to .13415 in 2009. In actuality, the Village tax rates have continued going down over the past years, even though the "surface level" Village rates go up by just under 5% each year. So, in other words, taxes do not necessarily go up just because of this. However, the past two years we have had to have these "Truth in Taxation" meetings, due to the Peoria Heights library requesting more than their allotted 5%. These "Truth in Taxation" ads are in the Journal Star, and look very imposing and daunting; and the language does not spell out WHY the special meeting is needed. For a number of reasons, most of which would be logical because of the economy and such, the library has found itself behind what it needs to maintain its services. Because the Village collects the money FOR the library through the property taxes, it is the Village's name that shows up as the requester for the increased funding. However, it is completely library-needs driven.
For the benefit of the Peoples Party trustee candidate, the mayor and trustees of Peoria Heights have no control over the taxes going to Peoria County; ICC; Great Peoria Airport Authority; Library; Peoria Park District; Richwoods Township; and the Peoria Heights School District. We are legally bound to pay a certain percentage into the Police Pension fund. The Pension Fund amount is set up by the Illinois Department of Insurance. We can add MORE to that, and possibly will have to in the future; but that's it. I'm sure that he has a whole bunch of other reasons to come up with a "new mayor," but the "too much taxes" argument seems to be a bit of a stretch, it would appear.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Ambulance Service Facts & Figures
One of the major complaints that the Peoples Party hierarchy, and a few other citizens, have had over the past couple of years, is the creation of the paid ambulance staff in Peoria Heights. My experiences have shown that the vast majority of citizens have been strongly in favor of the new service; but, as usual in the Heights, virtually everything is potentially a political issue.
Just a quick overview: we were faced with two choices a few years back, in regards to our Ambulance Service. One- we create a paid staff, as the days of the all-volunteer service had pretty much reached its conclusion several years before I even took office. The reasons for that are many, but mostly the demographics and dynamics of Peoria Heights, along with many other communities, had changed so much over the past generation that it was virtually impossible to be able to depend solely on an all-volunteer staff. Or, Two- we do away with Ambulance Service altogether, and contract with AMT.
I hate to ask you to go back and read the previous postings regarding the Ambulance Service, but there's so much information about it that is what the blog-reader will pretty much have to do. What I want to address here are the costs of the paid ambulance service, as that has been called into question several times by Lynn Brown and others.
First, it will be a bit difficult to make true apples-to-apples comparisons. The AMT service would be free (or so I've been told), however it does not appear that a single dedicated AMT vehicle would be only in the Heights, let alone two. What does that mean? Well, if a loved one of yours has a heart attack while in Peoria Heights, and you call 9-1-1, the odds are much, much greater that the ALS Ambulance squad from the Village will be at that location within minutes; and unless the AMT vehicle is in the neighborhood, it could be many more minutes before an AMT vehicle would arrive. In the business of life-saving, of course, minutes can make all the difference. Lynn Brown and other detractors have never seemed to address this situation when complaining about the paid ambulance service. It's easy to sling political arrows, but when it all becomes a real situation, one might feel a bit different if the person needing the ambulance is a loved one.
Comparisons to the volunteer service are pretty much of no value. The all-volunteer service will not work as well as we require, and had not worked well for over a decade. However, costs will be used as a contrast, just because.
For fiscal year 2010-2011, the personnel costs of the paid ambulance service came to $235,367.00. Non-personnel costs for the ambulance service amounted to $97,859.00, which is pretty much in line to what it would have cost to have the all-volunteer service, if that had been able to be retained.
So, the "difference" maker in costs, and the major problem with the Peoples Party hierarchy would appear to be the $235,367.00 in personnel costs. This is for ALL of the personnel costs, including the forced overtime.
The revenues for the ambulance service in fiscal year 2009-2010 came to $154,799.00. However, this figure does not include the outstanding billings for the same fiscal year that had not been collected yet, which was around $80,000.00. Some of the billings included in the $154,799.00 would have included billings from fiscal year 2008-2009, but those would have been minor, as the full time paid ambulance service was not in full swing yet at that time. My best guess would be around $35,000.00; so deducting that from $154,799.00, then adding the $80,000.00 of non-received billings, we come to an estimated revenue total of $199,799.00.
Subtracting the $199,799.00 from the $237,367.00 personnel costs, we then come to a total estimated cost of $37,568.00 for the PERSONNEL costs of having a paid ambulance service. Now, if you want to champion switching over to AMT, then you can add on the non-personnel costs of having a paid ambulance service, which would be $97,859.00, for a grand total of $135,427.00. However, you can add this on ONLY if you advocate switching over to AMT, and doing away with our own ambulance service. Lynn Brown has made mention many times of switching to AMT; but, it should be noted, that the Earl Carter regime had 8 years to do exactly that, and never did.
Now, the Ambulance Service revenues for fiscal year 2010-2011 have come to $146,577.88, up to and including December 17, 2010; with around $120,000.00 in outstanding billings. With well over a quarter to go in the fiscal year, our actual collected revenues are not far under the total collected revenues for the entire fiscal year of last year. At this pace, the Ambulance Service should be collecting around $225,000.00, not including the outstanding billings, which will certainly still be hovering around that $100,000.00 figure. ACTUAL total billings for fiscal year 2010-2011 will be at or near $325,000.00. I have never said that I ever expect the Ambulance Service to be a money-maker; it's a SERVICE for our citizens. But, as the billings increase, we edge closer to maybe having a break-even year now and then.
How is it a SERVICE to our citizens?
1) Timeliness: Already touched on that. Mere minutes for our paid ALS ambulance crew to arrive at the scene in the Heights; AMT could be much further away at any time. We are here in the Village 24/7. It honestly could be a matter of life and death.
2) Costs: If you don't have insurance to cover the service, you would find that the costs are roughly HALF of what AMT charges. We're talking several hundred dollars difference here.
3) Maintain our own Services: As I've discussed before, whenever possible, it is best for a municipality to maintain its own services. What happens if AMT is no longer in business in ten years, and the new ambulance service decides to start charging the Heights for this service? We would no longer have any choice but to pay what they would require... our ambulances would be long gone. CONTROL is important.
Police protection is not free. Road and water maintenance are not free. 24/7 ALS emergency service is not free. Yet, we've added this service without charging an additional nickel on anyone's property tax bills. This is an important, possibly life-saving service, that the vast majority of the residents in the Heights recognize the value in. I'll take on the Peoples Party hierarchy any day of the week in a debate on this one.
Just a quick overview: we were faced with two choices a few years back, in regards to our Ambulance Service. One- we create a paid staff, as the days of the all-volunteer service had pretty much reached its conclusion several years before I even took office. The reasons for that are many, but mostly the demographics and dynamics of Peoria Heights, along with many other communities, had changed so much over the past generation that it was virtually impossible to be able to depend solely on an all-volunteer staff. Or, Two- we do away with Ambulance Service altogether, and contract with AMT.
I hate to ask you to go back and read the previous postings regarding the Ambulance Service, but there's so much information about it that is what the blog-reader will pretty much have to do. What I want to address here are the costs of the paid ambulance service, as that has been called into question several times by Lynn Brown and others.
First, it will be a bit difficult to make true apples-to-apples comparisons. The AMT service would be free (or so I've been told), however it does not appear that a single dedicated AMT vehicle would be only in the Heights, let alone two. What does that mean? Well, if a loved one of yours has a heart attack while in Peoria Heights, and you call 9-1-1, the odds are much, much greater that the ALS Ambulance squad from the Village will be at that location within minutes; and unless the AMT vehicle is in the neighborhood, it could be many more minutes before an AMT vehicle would arrive. In the business of life-saving, of course, minutes can make all the difference. Lynn Brown and other detractors have never seemed to address this situation when complaining about the paid ambulance service. It's easy to sling political arrows, but when it all becomes a real situation, one might feel a bit different if the person needing the ambulance is a loved one.
Comparisons to the volunteer service are pretty much of no value. The all-volunteer service will not work as well as we require, and had not worked well for over a decade. However, costs will be used as a contrast, just because.
For fiscal year 2010-2011, the personnel costs of the paid ambulance service came to $235,367.00. Non-personnel costs for the ambulance service amounted to $97,859.00, which is pretty much in line to what it would have cost to have the all-volunteer service, if that had been able to be retained.
So, the "difference" maker in costs, and the major problem with the Peoples Party hierarchy would appear to be the $235,367.00 in personnel costs. This is for ALL of the personnel costs, including the forced overtime.
The revenues for the ambulance service in fiscal year 2009-2010 came to $154,799.00. However, this figure does not include the outstanding billings for the same fiscal year that had not been collected yet, which was around $80,000.00. Some of the billings included in the $154,799.00 would have included billings from fiscal year 2008-2009, but those would have been minor, as the full time paid ambulance service was not in full swing yet at that time. My best guess would be around $35,000.00; so deducting that from $154,799.00, then adding the $80,000.00 of non-received billings, we come to an estimated revenue total of $199,799.00.
Subtracting the $199,799.00 from the $237,367.00 personnel costs, we then come to a total estimated cost of $37,568.00 for the PERSONNEL costs of having a paid ambulance service. Now, if you want to champion switching over to AMT, then you can add on the non-personnel costs of having a paid ambulance service, which would be $97,859.00, for a grand total of $135,427.00. However, you can add this on ONLY if you advocate switching over to AMT, and doing away with our own ambulance service. Lynn Brown has made mention many times of switching to AMT; but, it should be noted, that the Earl Carter regime had 8 years to do exactly that, and never did.
Now, the Ambulance Service revenues for fiscal year 2010-2011 have come to $146,577.88, up to and including December 17, 2010; with around $120,000.00 in outstanding billings. With well over a quarter to go in the fiscal year, our actual collected revenues are not far under the total collected revenues for the entire fiscal year of last year. At this pace, the Ambulance Service should be collecting around $225,000.00, not including the outstanding billings, which will certainly still be hovering around that $100,000.00 figure. ACTUAL total billings for fiscal year 2010-2011 will be at or near $325,000.00. I have never said that I ever expect the Ambulance Service to be a money-maker; it's a SERVICE for our citizens. But, as the billings increase, we edge closer to maybe having a break-even year now and then.
How is it a SERVICE to our citizens?
1) Timeliness: Already touched on that. Mere minutes for our paid ALS ambulance crew to arrive at the scene in the Heights; AMT could be much further away at any time. We are here in the Village 24/7. It honestly could be a matter of life and death.
2) Costs: If you don't have insurance to cover the service, you would find that the costs are roughly HALF of what AMT charges. We're talking several hundred dollars difference here.
3) Maintain our own Services: As I've discussed before, whenever possible, it is best for a municipality to maintain its own services. What happens if AMT is no longer in business in ten years, and the new ambulance service decides to start charging the Heights for this service? We would no longer have any choice but to pay what they would require... our ambulances would be long gone. CONTROL is important.
Police protection is not free. Road and water maintenance are not free. 24/7 ALS emergency service is not free. Yet, we've added this service without charging an additional nickel on anyone's property tax bills. This is an important, possibly life-saving service, that the vast majority of the residents in the Heights recognize the value in. I'll take on the Peoples Party hierarchy any day of the week in a debate on this one.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Advertising the Heights
During the campaign of 2009, the Peoples Party flier stated that I had not shown how the new administration had a hand in the "gin up" of the Village revenues. A letter that was in the Journal Star, written by present Peoples Party trustee candidate Dave Parkinson, also took me to task about trying to take credit for the sudden increase in the Village sales tax revenues over the last few years. Per usual, neither of those "sources" took the time to read what I had continuously put out both in this blog and in campaign materials. I have stated many times that we CAN take some credit for the uptick in sales tax revenues in the Village. Why? Because beginning with the first budget we had control of, we began advertising the Heights, through the Chamber of Commerce; through festivals; and through the mass media in general.
Beginning in fiscal year 2006-2007, the Board of Trustees approved money being given to the Chamber to advertise the Village. We began the Tower Park Music Fest. The Chamber started Duryea Days, helped with the money given through the Board. What has been the payoff?
In fiscal year 2005-2006, the sales tax revenues in Peoria Heights came to $1,163,776.00. This was a slight increase over 2004-2005, around 2%. Those percentage increases were virtually uniform over the previous years. The Village would see increases of 2-3% each year, as a matter of routine.
With the advertising of Peoria Heights commencing in 2006-2007, the increase in sales tax revenue went to 11.5%! The dollar amount increase was $133,822.00; a normal increase would have been around $23,000.00, so by advertising the Heights, we saw an increase of over $110,000.00 in ONE year in sales tax revenue. The money given to the Chamber, and the money put in to the Music Fest, that year, was around $30,000.00; so we realized $80,000.00 of absolutely new money for the Village, just by advertising what we have to offer.
This out of the ordinary increase can be attributed to one thing, and one thing only, ADVERTISING. If it didn't work, no one would do it. No Wal-Mart had opened here; Heritage Square certainly wasn't taking off; it was pretty much "business as usual" in terms of numbers and sizes of businesses within our confined borders. Our sales tax revenues have continued to rise by 2-3% since then, until this past fiscal year, so the big bounce we saw from advertising that one year has continued, and is now our new "measuring stick." What would happen if this advertising is taken away? It might take a year to catch up with us, but you can be certain we would see a pronounced drop in sales tax revenue. That is the way of business.
And, we ARE in business as a municipality. We are in competition with every other community around us, to bring people in, to show them what we have to offer. When a person comes to the Music Fest to see a band play, they are likely to buy gas here; to drop by Walgreens for an item or two; to take in one of our restaurants for lunch or dinner; to BUY things that they otherwise would not have bought had the Music Fest not been going on.
When a person logs onto the WEEK-TV website, and they check out the weather view from the Observation Tower, they will also find advertising for the upcoming things to do in the Village. When they turn on the WEEK-TV news, and watch Lee Ranson's weather report, they will also hear Lee talk up what is going on in the Heights for the upcoming weekend. This all puts the Peoria Heights name out into the public domain; for a number of good reasons, but foremost in bringing additional sales tax revenues into the Heights.
Advertising is a good thing. It has clearly helped us out, and brought a good deal more revenues into Peoria Heights than the costs of doing the same. It's too bad when a good thing becomes a political thing; but when your opponents are bellyaching that NOTHING we do is good, it comes with the territory.
Again, if advertising didn't work, no one would do it.
It's working in Peoria Heights.
Beginning in fiscal year 2006-2007, the Board of Trustees approved money being given to the Chamber to advertise the Village. We began the Tower Park Music Fest. The Chamber started Duryea Days, helped with the money given through the Board. What has been the payoff?
In fiscal year 2005-2006, the sales tax revenues in Peoria Heights came to $1,163,776.00. This was a slight increase over 2004-2005, around 2%. Those percentage increases were virtually uniform over the previous years. The Village would see increases of 2-3% each year, as a matter of routine.
With the advertising of Peoria Heights commencing in 2006-2007, the increase in sales tax revenue went to 11.5%! The dollar amount increase was $133,822.00; a normal increase would have been around $23,000.00, so by advertising the Heights, we saw an increase of over $110,000.00 in ONE year in sales tax revenue. The money given to the Chamber, and the money put in to the Music Fest, that year, was around $30,000.00; so we realized $80,000.00 of absolutely new money for the Village, just by advertising what we have to offer.
This out of the ordinary increase can be attributed to one thing, and one thing only, ADVERTISING. If it didn't work, no one would do it. No Wal-Mart had opened here; Heritage Square certainly wasn't taking off; it was pretty much "business as usual" in terms of numbers and sizes of businesses within our confined borders. Our sales tax revenues have continued to rise by 2-3% since then, until this past fiscal year, so the big bounce we saw from advertising that one year has continued, and is now our new "measuring stick." What would happen if this advertising is taken away? It might take a year to catch up with us, but you can be certain we would see a pronounced drop in sales tax revenue. That is the way of business.
And, we ARE in business as a municipality. We are in competition with every other community around us, to bring people in, to show them what we have to offer. When a person comes to the Music Fest to see a band play, they are likely to buy gas here; to drop by Walgreens for an item or two; to take in one of our restaurants for lunch or dinner; to BUY things that they otherwise would not have bought had the Music Fest not been going on.
When a person logs onto the WEEK-TV website, and they check out the weather view from the Observation Tower, they will also find advertising for the upcoming things to do in the Village. When they turn on the WEEK-TV news, and watch Lee Ranson's weather report, they will also hear Lee talk up what is going on in the Heights for the upcoming weekend. This all puts the Peoria Heights name out into the public domain; for a number of good reasons, but foremost in bringing additional sales tax revenues into the Heights.
Advertising is a good thing. It has clearly helped us out, and brought a good deal more revenues into Peoria Heights than the costs of doing the same. It's too bad when a good thing becomes a political thing; but when your opponents are bellyaching that NOTHING we do is good, it comes with the territory.
Again, if advertising didn't work, no one would do it.
It's working in Peoria Heights.
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