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Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Harrison, West Harrison, Crosby, Harrison & Whitewater TWPs.
Harrison safety levy headed for Nov. ballot
Relay tops $1M in fight against cancer
HAND-TO-EYE COORDINATION
City eyes $1 million annually for five years
Harrison City Council put its stamp of approval Tuesday, June 3, on a 4.8 mill, special five-year jawad@registerpublications.com levy to raise $5 million for police and fire services over its lifetime. If approved by Harrison voters, the levy would cost property owners 50 cents more for each $100 valuation. A Harrison property owner with a $100,000 valuation would pay $168 more a year. Called a “necessity” in the ordinance, council’s 6-0 vote specifies the issue will be on the Tuesday, Nov. 4, ballot, not the spring Primary Election Ballot which was considered by a special safety services committee that made recommendations. With no fanfare, council members and Mayor Joel McGuire made it clear passage of the levy is paramount if Harrison residents want to keep the level of service on which they have relied for many years. McGuire has said at several meetings that without the additional revenue more personnel will be discharged from the fire and police departments. “Some of the factors considered in coming to the 4.8 mills they looked at numbers less than that and numbers above that. It was a combination of meeting the capital improvements for the departments over that five-year period, hiring back safety personal who were laid off … and taking pressure off the general fund,” said McGuire, who called the 4.8 mills the “sweet spot.” In December, council passed a zero-sum budget, meaning the city will not make nor lose money this year despite increasing costs and dwindling state funds, including elimination of the estate tax last year. In 2013, one full-time firefighter was laid off and firefighters are in their fourth year of a pay freeze. One full-time police officer, who retired last year, was not replaced and another full-time officer was laid off. Four part-time police employees also were laid off. Police officers are in their fourth year of a wage freeze and police clerks are in their second. The city has 20 full-time police officers and two clerks. The fire department runs on 22 full-time employees and 29 part-timers. The 2010 census shows 9,897 people and 3,765 households, but Harrison now is over 10,000 people. The 2000 census revealed 7,487 residents and 2,717 households. Among the most revealing police department numbers is the difference in total budgetary increases versus expenses. From 2008 to 2014, the police budget increased about $35,000, while salaries and wages increased $198,000. Health insurance climbed $38,000. Meanwhile, the department has cut supplies by $3,200; contractual services declined $8,000, and overtime was slashed $20,000. The police department is exclusively budgeted through the general fund. The fire department has had a $1 million budget increase thanks partially to a special levy. Salary and wages, however, have increased $600,000; health insurance is up $135,000. The fire department has cut supplies by $12,600; and overtime by $13,000. The problem, however, is that 42 percent of the fire department’s budget comes from the struggling general fund. The department now operates with eight full-time paramedics instead of 10 per shift, which has compromised public safety, according to Fire Chief Rob Hursong. The city was hit with a 42 percent increase in health insurance last year and officials now are bracing for an additional 14-16 percent hike. If the levy passes, the city will borrow the money in advance because no additional funds will come in for a year. Borrowing money after a levy passes is common practice for the city, said McGuire.
Patricia Huelseman Harrison Press Staff Writer phuelseman@registerpublications.com
Joe Awad Harrison Press Editor
Special graduation section - see pages 11-14 Lee Cook’s life on city council - see page 6 Help restore school garden - see page 6 Copyright Register Publications, 2014
Though the Harrison Relay For Life will face logistic setbacks and have to relocate the Relay, co-chairs Daphne Walters and Jeff Wissel are still excited that the Harrison chapter of the Relay For Life has reached a benchmark $1,000,000 in donations to the American Cancer Society.
PHOTO BY PATRICIA HUELSEMAN /HARRISON PRESS
Robert Stockmeier, along with several other Harrison Fire Department firefighters, refines his skills in depth perception as he maneuvers a 105-foot-tall ladder atop the fire truck called a quint. Stockmeier’s position is called ATO (aerial tower operator), the highest driving position firemen can achieve. The fire department has been running drills at a house across from Cronin Ford/Kia on New Haven Road for several days.
The 13th Annual Relay is slated for Friday, June 13, starting at 5:45 p.m.. Because of Century of Excellence renovations at the Harrison High School track, the Relay has been moved to the Activity Center parking lot instead. “While we will not have the ideal situation for our Relay this year, we are improvising fine,” said Walters. “We have always had an excellent partnership with the Southwest Local School District, and they have been wonderful assisting us with the logistics of relocation due to the track renovations,” she added. Twenty-two teams and over 200 individuals are registered to participate in the event. Over 150 cancer survivors
SEE RELAY, PAGE 4
Message of hope is central to book written by man who lost his leg “I never thought I would ever a book. … I never thought I would get to a point in my life where I would lose my leg
Patricia Huelseman write Harrison Press Staff Writer phuelseman@registerpublications.com
either.” Though he never imagined it, both are realities for Harrison resident Mike Couch who lost his right leg to a condition called cavernous hemangioma and wrote a book, How I Ended Up With One Leg Instead of Two, chronicling his amputation yet describing a message of hope and perseverance. The condition creates dilated blood vessels with multiple caverns through which blood flows very slowly. As Couch described it, his condition caused intense swelling and debilitating pain in his right leg. He grew up in pain and in fear. “The veins in my leg were knotted up, and the circulation was poor,” he wrote in his book. Doctors had explained the condition meant Couch could easily bleed to death. Growing up in Indiana near Louisville, Couch learned to cope with his condition and maintain a somewhat normal life. Until 1992, that is. In One Leg Instead of Two, Couch describes the events that led to several surgeries and his eventual amputation.
Mike Couch, author of How I Ended Up With One Leg Instead of Two, has created a charity, called Lost Limbs Foundation, to offer financial support to amputee chilThroughout the grueling process, Couch relocated to dren. Earlier this year, Couch visited 10-year-old Deven Harrison, where he married Sonya Schalk. Jackson of Pennsylvania who suffered a double amputation. Couch had breakfast with Deven and his family and SEE HOPE, offered the family a check from the foundation to assist Deven in battling his struggles. PAGE 4
Grueling process
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