With an April response rate of 82.5 percent (up from 46 percent in February), the Cumberland Volunteer Rescue Squad (CVRS) requested that the board of supervisors set aside additional funding for the squad’s expected increase in expenses.
In the County’s finalized budget, CVRS was allocated $26,800 for the 2015-16 fiscal year. District Three representative Kevin Ingle gave the board an update on the squad at the May meeting of the board of supervisors and presented CVRS’s request to set aside additional funding not to exceed $20,000 should the need for the funds arise.
The additional funding, to be drawn from the County’s reserve funds, would be used to get CVRS through the end of the current fiscal year, ending June 30, should last year’s budget prove to be insufficient to meet the squad’s growing needs, then would carry the squad through into the 2015-16 year. Because of the increase in services the squad now provides, in addition to training the new members necessary to continue to increase their response rate and an expected $16,000 in bills alone coming due the end of May, the funds, according to Ingle, would be necessary to help the squad continue to progress and provide excellent service to the community.
The squad’s response rate, calculated based on the number of calls the squad responds to without requesting additional aid from other companies, has nearly doubled in two months due to increased resources and training. Ingle informed the board that, due to the increase in the response rate and the possibility that the $10,000 in revenue recovery the squad collected may not cover that increase, it would be necessary to set aside this additional funding.
The board’s main concern was what would happen if the squad did not require the full $20,000, and whether the County would still have to allocate the full amount to the squad regardless of how much of the designated funds the squad ultimately uses.
“If this motion passes,” District Two representative Lloyd Banks said, “and they need 16, they’ll get 16. If they need 18, they’ll get 18. If they need 19, 19. The motion is simply to approve additional funding up to $20,000.”
With three board members in attendance, the motion passed with District Four representative David Meinhard and Ingle in favor. Banks abstained on the grounds that the board should be better informed in matters where distribution of County funding is concerned.