Smoke on the Water
Welcome to another episode of The Parkville Luminary, where former mayors are our most cherished readers.
With election season wrapping up this week (by the time some of you read this the winners will already have been declared, and thanks to the Post Office, mankind will have likely already been to Mars and back), we’re looking forward to reporting on day-to-day life again. If I hear Park Hill’s PR rep say “no-tax-increase-bond-issue” one more time, I’m likely to vomit. I’m also a little tired of walking on eggshells around ambulance district proponents. Mention the words “Weatherby Lake” to any of them and it’s like Curly saying “Niagra Falls” to Moe Howard.
The dominant issue of this election was, without doubt, the ambulance district question. I commend those who fell on sides of the issue for their efforts to educate and inform the public.
I question the system that made it possible for Weatherby Lake to be included in this ambulance district at all. It appears to me that we have found a loophole in local governance. Theoretically, 1,500 people from outside Weatherby Lake could sign a petition that placed the city into a tax district, the entire city could vote against it, the municipal leaders can decide not to support it, but they can still be made to pay a tax.
It was pretty fascinating stuff to read the give and take between Parkville’s Mayor Dusenbery and Weatherby Lake’s Alderman Mike Moratz. It isn’t everyday you see a mayor taking on another city’s aldermen. It became even more interesting when you consider the fact that Weatherby Lake censured their mayor. Suffice to say, those that know Mayor Dusenbery know that she is the kind that will tell you what’s on her mind.
Our front page story detailing the dispute over ambulance coverage in Weatherby Lake is a telling one, however. Remember, opponents to the plan are pointing to their own ambulance deal with MAST as the top reason why they’re opposed to the district’s formation. They also say that 21-cents is too high a price to pay. Yet, this same town passed a levy of 20 cents per $100 of assessed valuation just last year to provide ambulance services. And they apparently did it wrong when they tried to do it themselves, in their self described “informal” way. That’s a fine, yet unwitting endorsement of the ambulance district if I’ve ever heard one. Perhaps a more formal board will be a better choice for the city.
I’m under the belief that the entity who will make out best in this case is MAST. They say they need about $250,000 to cover Southern Platte County with ambulance services every year. That means a lower tax assessment for the average Parkvillian – anywhere between 6 to ten cents per $100 – far better than what South Platte Fire said they’d need to do the job (21 cents). And should Weatherby Lake go it alone and find, several years down the road, that MAST has decided to go bust, where do you think they’ll be knocking for ambulance service? When you consider how MAST has behaved over the past few years with their cries of fiscal doom and gloom, it would behoove the region to pool their resources and increase their bargaining power should they need to negotiate with them.
That’s a hard sell in the Platte County world of fiefdoms and multi-tiered lake kingdoms. For those that damned the political ramifications and tried to get this thing together, I salute you. It’s in the hands of the voter now.