The Daily Herald has this article:
Fallout from a failed referendum request for ambulance service in and around Antioch has begun, sparking plans to again ask voters to approve a new tax to pay for the calls. As of 6 a.m. Dec. 1, the on-duty staff at the Antioch Fire Department was reduced from 11 to eight, leaving one of the three district stations unstaffed.
That means fewer people are covering a 36-square-mile area in and around the village, with no crew on duty at Station 3, 24675 W. Grass Lake Road. Stations at 700 Deep Lake Road and 835 Holbek Drive each will be staffed with a crew of four.
Funding has been an issue since last May, when the fire district did not renew a contract with the Antioch Rescue Squad and consolidated operations under the Antioch Fire Department. That left the district and village to split the cost of ambulance service. But with no specific property tax line item as a source of funding, both began burning through reserves.
In November, voters in Antioch and the unincorporated areas of the fire district by an overall 4-3 ratio rejected a question that would have established a taxing category for ambulance service. The request would have cost the owner of a home valued at $100,000 about $83 each year and provided a total of $1.5 million annually for ambulance service.
Within the past two weeks, fire and village officials in separate actions authorized placing the same question on the April 7 general election ballot. Village funding for the service comes from its general fund, which pays for all day-to-day services, a situation that didn’t exist previously. At the same time, the village board is considering reductions in other services to plug the gap.
The department has no plan to convert to full-time firefighters, as that would require pension payments and other expenses, for example. He also said there is no legal requirement that ambulance service be provided. If the referendum request fails again, ambulance service could be curtailed or eliminated, officials said.
thanks Dan
