By Christy Jankowski
Commercial-News
OAKWOOD, Ill. — The village is considering a tax to save its ambulance department.
On Thursday evening, the village hall filled with community members to learn what was being proposed to save their ambulance department.
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Oakwood Ambulance Director Zach Weddle spoke during the meeting to inform the community of what he says is needed to keep the service going.
“We don’t have the volunteers anymore, which is why we were able to sustain the 45 years,” Weddle said. “We have people [who] value their time more every day, so we have to pay our staff. We can’t really afford to continue in the manner that we’re going, and this is one option that we have to be able to sustain.”
And Weddle says a tax increase is working in other communities.
“I worked for one for a while in Fountain County, Indiana. They’re owned by the county,” Weddle said. “They’re a tax-based service. They’re able to financially support themselves.”
Weddle said while he does not want to add another tax, it is necessary. He also broke down costs for certain services.
“At this point, as an Illinois resident, this is the last thing I want to see is another additional tax. We’re taxed to death,” Weddle said. “However, if you break this down, the introductory rate would be a point one 5% that’s standard for any of these special service taxes, or fire service taxes, anything of that nature. And that is 15 cents per $100 assessment.”
Weddle said that, according to his rough calculations, if it passes, it would result in $290,000 a year for the emergency service.
And the service would be renamed from Emergency-Rescue to something like ‘Western Vermilion County Ambulance Service,’ says Weddle.
Weddle added they are planning on having the tax proposal on the ballot, and says they would need a 10% voter signature to even get it placed on the ballot.
Weddle stressed that without the increase, there would be delays that could be deadly.
“This reform needs to happen, otherwise we’re looking at a drastic reduction in staff, coverage area, possibly even closure,” Weddle said. “That means you’re going to have to rely upon either [other] ambulance to come from an outside source… sometimes upwards [of] 45 minutes to an hour. That’s literally a difference of life and death in a critical situation. We can reach almost all the points within our coverage area at this moment in about 15 minutes at most.”
Weddle also made clear his push for the tax is not about himself, but the community.
“This isn’t me trying to save my job,” Weddle said. “It’s not me trying to get rich. It’s not me trying to save my employees’ jobs. This is being vested into a community that has a vital resource right now that needs help, and I hope that everybody understands.”
To watch the meeting, which took place Thursday evening, the Oakwood Ambulance has a copy of their live stream on their Facebook page.
Now it will be up to voters in November on whether the increase is approved, as long as the proposal is added to the ballot.
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