Expense reimbursements, Air-Evac dues added to budget

Even though the Harrison City Council’s Finance Committee last Monday voted not to give out some raises to firefighters and to table discussion of take-home police cars, aldermen did vote to recommend increasing some spending that won’t really affect Mayor Pat Moles’ proposed 2010 budget.

Alderman Wayne Cone told the committee, which consists of all council members, that he’d been approached about increasing the city’s rate of reimbursement for travel expenses.

Alderman Joe Crockett (left) talks with Parks and Recreation director John Phillips following the Harrison City Council Finance Committee meeting.
The city currently pays employees 30 cents per mile for use of a private vehicle for city business.

Alderman Dan Harness said he’d like to see the city’s reimbursement rate be at the state level, which he said is 52 or 53 cents per mile. Even then, he said, it would cost the city little money because so few employees use personal vehicles for city business.

But Alderman Deon Moser said the message of Monday night’s meeting was that there was no money for additional spending. As such, he said he thought it was the wrong time to be increasing spending at all.

Finance director Gerald Ragland said 30 cents a mile doesn’t necessarily even cover expenses of wear and tear on an automobile, so employees are in essence subsidizing the city.

Alderman Mark Fowler suggested city expenses could actually go up if all city employees stopped using their personal vehicles and used city vehicles, but Ragland said city-owned cars aren’t even available in some departments.

Moser again said the points all had some merit, but he didn’t think expanding spending was the message from Monday night’s meeting.

“I can’t support it,” he said.

Alderman Joe Crockett agreed with Moser, although he said he wouldn’t mind seeing the city match Boone County’s mileage reimbursement rate of 43 cents a mile.

The committee did vote to recommend raising the rate to 43 cents per mile, with Moser casting the sole “no” vote.

The final issue before the committee was a move the council took for the first time in the 2009 budget.

Last year, the council voted to pay Air-Evac dues for all employees, but that wasn’t in Moles’ proposed budget.

Ragland told aldermen the city spent $8,145 on the package last year. Only a handful of employees had used the service over the last year, but it had saved them thousands of dollars each in medical bills.

Harness said that with city employees getting no raises, paying Air-Evac dues would at least be something to give them to let them know they’re appreciated.

The council voted unanimously to recommend paying Air-Evac dues, tentatively earmarking some of the $12,500 saved from deleting raises for 15 firemen.

The full council will meet Monday, Dec. 7, to vote on the final budget.