CEYLON - It's a great deal, but who pays?
That's a question the city of Ceylon and townships of Lake Belt and Tenhanssen have been asking for the past year and a half, sometimes leading to heated discussions and clashes between the two sides. But at the continuation of Lake Belt Township's annual meeting this week, the issue was finally settled.
"The city had purchased a fire truck about a year and a half ago," said Lon Oelke, Ceylon City Councilman and a member of the Ceylon Firemen's Association. "It was an excellent deal, and they had to act quick. But there were a lot of people who had issue with that."
While Ceylon provides fire coverage for the Tenhanssen and Lake Belt townships, splitting the cost of the $107,000 truck - $35,000 each - was more than Lake Belt Township could afford.
The township originally proposed Ceylon pay $50,000, with all three dividing up the remaining $57,000. The proposal was rejected by the city.
"The city pays $69,000, while the other two pay $19,000?" Oelke said. "That doesn't exactly seem fair."
As the issue dragged on, the city paid off the $22,000 in interest on the loan, leaving only a one-percent service percentage that needs to be paid with the loan.
"I think it was a good faith deal by (Ceylon) taking on that $22,000," Oelke said.
But there was still some anger from Lake Belt township members in how the entire purchase was approached.
"I wasn't part of the council or the association at the time," Oelke said. "But I know there are some hard feelings regarding how the city went about getting the truck."
The final agreement was the city taking on the first three years of payments, Tenhanssen township taking the next three years and Lake Belt would take over the final three years of payments.
"That gives you six years to adjust your budget for the payments," Oelke said.
The plan was drawn up several months ago, but could not be acted on until Lake Belt Township had its annual meeting. The agreement passed with only one "nay" vote.
As the deal was approached this week, Oelke pointed out that in the future, all three entities need to work together. He suggested going back to a joint powers agreement, in which there would be no overrides when it comes to decisions that affect all three entities.
"I admit how it was handled, it got screwed up," Oelke said. "But us three entities need to work together."