UHRICHSVILLE (Tusco TV) - City officials are making arrangements to put two expiring safety levies up for renewal in the next election.

Council recently passed the first of two resolutions to place the city's five-year fire and EMS levies back on the ballot for the March 17th primary. Mayor Rick Dorland says the 2-mill fire levy covers vehicle and equipment purchases, while the 2.85-mill EMS levy sustains 24/7 ambulance coverage.

"Just like anything else, equipment for those vehicles are expensive. Now the second one is just a renewal of the EMS levy to provide ambulance service and/or EMS coverage for the city. I believe we’ve had an EMS levy for, oh my gosh, I don’t know how many... several years," he explains.

Dorland says the EMS millage subsidizes the cost for Smith Ambulance to keep one medic stationed in the region with enough left over to offset the city's expenses when firefighters provide backup.

"I don’t want to call it extra money but for lack of a better term, the extra money that’s there that’s not being paid for the subsidy itself pays for EMS supplies for our ambulances. It also pays for wages and overtime hours that are paid out when our ambulance gets called out," he says.

The levies both passed in 2015 and are in their last year of collection.

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