0ctobei 29, 2u14

To the Euitoi,

It is well known that I believe the city of Elyiia has long been in neeu of auuitional income tax ievenue in
oiuei to impiove the quality of oui community anu I have paiticipateu in seveial ballot attempts to uo so. Noney
is so haiu to come by that we have to make the absolute best use of whatevei is available. When Nayoi Biinua
pioposeu the spenuing piioiities of Issue 14, I was uisappointeu that half of the $S.2 million inciease was going to
the fiie uepaitment. I was uisappointeu because I believe oui community woulu be bettei seiveu if that money
insteau weie funuing oui police uepaitment, stieet iesuifacing, anu paik impiovements, things that woulu help
make oui city a bettei place to live anu uo business. Bisappointment asiue, until now, I was still suppoiting the tax
inciease. Bowevei, aftei ieauing incieasingly questionable statements by Biinua, I felt compelleu to look into
these issues anu leaineu that hei piimaiy aiguments useu to convince people to vote foi Issue 14 aie false,
misleauing, anu unsubstantiateu. Theiefoie, I can no longei suppoit Issue 14 anu I believe the community shoulu
know what I have leaineu.
Biinua has been telling the community foi months that she has maue moie than $2 million is cuts. I have
askeu hei foi a uetaileu accounting of these cuts anu all she has pioviueu is a vague summaiy. I have askeu again
foi moie uetail anu she has yet to pioviue auuitional infoimation. Foi the sake of tianspaiency, she shoulu put on
the city's website a uetaileu list of the $2 million in cuts incluuing the 14 positions that she says have been
eliminateu. Fiom what I have seen fiom hei so fai, she will not piouuce any uetail because she cannot uo so.
Biinua tells us, iegaiuing the pioposeu Reveise 911 seivice, that if we pass Issue 14, the city will institute
this state-of-the-ait communication system. She has even gone so fai as to make the Reveise 911 a pait of the
Issue 14 ballot language as a means to gain votei suppoit. What she has not tolu us is that the Loiain County 0ffice
of Emeigency Nanagement is instituting this as pait of a countywiue aleit system, that Elyiia's annual shaie is only
$2,8uu, anu that the city will paiticipate iegaiuless of what happens to Issue 14. The Reveise 911 shoulu not even
be associateu with Issue 14 because Elyiia will paiticipate in the piogiam whethei it passes oi not. Biinua shoulu
be honest anu acknowleuge that this is the case.
Regaiuing the Elyiia Fiie Bepaitment, Biinua has been telling the community that thiiu-paity expeits have
iecommenueu that Elyiia shoulu have 6S fiiefighteis. These claims aie not tiue. 0n pages 42-46 of the State
Peifoimance Auuit, founu on Elyiia's website, the 0hio Auuitoi veiy cleaily attiibutes staffing statements to the
Elyiia Fiie Chief anu caiefully avoius making uepaitment staffing iecommenuations because he is unqualifieu to uo
so. The 0hio Auuitoi uoes howevei, iecommenu that Elyiia fiiefighteis accept changes to theii collective
baigaining agieement that woulu have them woik moie houis anu have less time off. The only thiiu-paity expeit
stuuy of the Elyiia Fiie Bepaitment is the much-publicizeu stuuy in 2uu9 by Ncuiath Consulting. Theii team of
fiie uepaitment expeits cleaily iecommenueu that Elyiia shoulu have S1 suppiession fiiefighteis anu that the
fiiefighteis shoulu except similai woiking concessions as the 0hio Auuitoi iecommenueu. Ncuiath's
iecommenuation is on page 1u9 of theii Executive Summaiy. Again, foi the sake of tianspaiency, the mayoi
shoulu put this stuuy back on the city website foi all to see. Foi peispective, Avon, Noith Riugeville, anu Westlake
fiie uepaitments have S2, S6, anu 4S total fiiefighteis, incluuing theii chiefs. Two of these thiee cities have moie
squaie miles to covei than Elyiia anu they all have the auueu woikloau of pioviuing ambulance seivice.
Elyiia's IS0 Public Piotection Classification (PPC) is a Class 4, Avon is a Class S with S2 fiiefighteis woiking
out of one fiie station, Noith Riugeville is a Class 4 with S6 fiiefighteis woiking out of two fiie stations, anu
Westlake is a Class 4 with 4S fiiefighteis woiking out of two fiie stations. Foui main factois go into ueteimining
PPC iatings incluuing fiie peisonnel anu equipment, fiie station locations, communications systems, anu the
quality of the watei system. Elyiia's watei system is veiy goou anu it is iegulaily getting bettei as eviuenceu by all
of the wateiline ieplacement piojects taking place aiounu the city. In iecent yeais, the city has spent hunuieus of
thousanus of uollais on new fiie engines anu $1 million on a lauuei tiuck, anu by tuining uispatch opeiations ovei
to Loiain County 911, have impioveu oui communications effectiveness. With all of these impiovements, it is
possible that Elyiia's PPC coulu be upgiaueu to a Class S, like Avon. In the unlikely event howevei, that Elyiia
woulu change to a Class S, an insuiance expeit has been quoteu in this papei as saying that insuiance piemiums
woulu change a minimal amount, if at all. In fact, Elyiia was loweieu to a Class S in 2uuS anu no one noticeu any
changes to theii piemiums.
Biinua uesciibes how ueneial Funu ievenue has been ueclining. Yes anu no. State goveinment has
ieuuceu Local uoveinment Funu uistiibutions to Elyiia in the amount of $1.SS million foi this yeai compaieu to
2u11 anu they have eliminateu the Estate Tax which Elyiia has aveiageu $7Su,uuu foi the past seven yeais foi a
total ueciease of appioximately $2.1 million. At the same time, Elyiia income tax ievenue has been incieasing.
This yeai's income tax collection is piojecteu to be $1.1 million moie than in 2u11 anu it is tienuing upwaiu. The
total net ueciease to Elyiia's ueneial Funu is just $1 million. If the mayoi's claim that she has ieuuceu city
expenuituies by moie than $2 million is only half tiue, then the city has enough money to inciease the police foice
by moie than the six auuitional officeis that is in the cuiient buuget, anu maintain cuiient spenuing in all othei city
uepaitments, except fiie.
The mayoi thieatens city employees by telling eveiyone that if Issue 14 fails it will "impact peisonnel in
eveiy uepaitment acioss the city anu have a uiastic, negative impact on quality-of-life seivices to oui citizens".
This is not tiue. 0utsiue of the fiie uepaitment, not a single employee will neeu to lose theii job. If Elyiia votes no
on Issue 14 then the mayoi will neeu to ieuuce fiie staffing levels to wheie they weie in 2uu9, as was maue cleai
when the SAFER giants weie accepteu. The city can then focus on hiiing the auuitional six police officeis that aie
in the buuget, anu then the mayoi can iegioup anu put foith an honest pioposal at anothei time.

Sinceiely,

Bill uiace