The board held a special meeting to vote on the budget after it approved reductions for next year at its last meeting. Among those reductions were 25 percent salary cuts for the JEMS chief and its fiscal officer, as well as the elimination of their health care benefits.
Riddiough also said a majority of the 38 line items in the budget were cut by 40 percent, which is about how much Franklin residents contributed to the overall JEMS overall. The largest amount for a line item is $325,000 in salaries for the 48 rostered employees.
Franklin will officially withdraw from JEMS beginning Jan. 2. The city passed a tax levy in August to fund the creation of its own EMS division within the fire department. The withdrawal leaves JEMS to cover residents in Carlisle and the non-city portion of Franklin Twp.
Board member Ron Ruppert called the budget amount a “conservative estimate.”
“I think it is a good estimation of what we expect to receive,” Ruppert said. “We have to estimate conservatively so we don’t overspend. You can only count on what you have and not what you don’t have, but hopefully we will receive more than that.”
Riddiough said in years past, JEMS has always received a “little more” than what it anticipated.
“But you can’t plan on any more than what you are told you are going to get,” Riddiough said. “It is going to be tight, and we know going in that we have to continue to be frugal, but we will make it work.
“Our goal remains to provide the best service we can with whatever amount we receive,” he said.
The board also approved its 2012 amended appropriations certificate for $1,719,100.67 at the meeting.
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