Oskaloosa will pay what it owes 911, manager says
by KYLE OCKER Editor/Oskaloosa Herald
OSKALOOSA — After two months of public questioning over the City of Oskaloosa’s unpaid balance to the 911 Service Board, city manager Amal Eltahir said Wednesday the city will meet its obligations.
The 911 Service Board met Tuesday and again discussed a lapse in payments from the City of Oskaloosa. According to service board records, the city is behind $71,950.78 from the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2023. The city has not made a payment in the current fiscal year, either, in which they are expected to pay $513,028.67.
To cover ongoing expenses, Mahaska County has tied up additional funds to temporarily cover the city’s lapse. During the meeting, 911 Director Cheryl Eklofe said the agency’s cash flow is currently in the red, to the tune of $299,659.
The topic came up at a meeting the board held last month, but the City of Oskaloosa did not answer The Herald’s request for comment nor did they speak about the issue at their council meetings.
In response to the additional discussion which occurred Tuesday, Eltahir did tell The Herald she has directed the city attorney to draft a resolution for Monday’s city council meeting to authorize a payment of more than $200,000. While the city has budgeted for the annual expenditure, Eltahir says the council would need to approve the payment before it can be issued.
She said the city was not aware about its unpaid balance from last fiscal year until a couple of months ago, and that she was working to find a way to pay that balance, which was not budgeted for.
In terms of the ongoing fiscal year, Eltahir said she had been waiting on tax proceeds to come in so that the City of Oskaloosa could make one lump-sum annual payment. Given the situation Eltahir now plans to ask the council to make an immediate payment for what the city currently has on hand in their account for 911 services.
Eltahir said the city has received about a half million dollars in this fund, but its payment for fiscal year 2023 EMA services also came from that fund, which was $283,644.94. That money was sent to the Mahaska County Emergency Management Agency, which no longer oversees 911 services after an Iowa Supreme Court ruling decided that prior practice was illegal.
What has resulted since is an informal agreement between area cities and entities to divvy up funding of 911 services. Oskaloosa is the only entity currently behind on payments.
Eltahir told The Herald that the City of Oskaloosa is committed to paying its fair share and is working to make sure they are not compromising either the county’s finances or the stability of 911 services.
The county and Oskaloosa have both expressed interest in having an audit conducted of 911’s finances, but so far, the 911 Service Board has been unable to find an agency that would conduct said audit. While the desire remains, Eltahir said the lack of an audit is not why the city has not made a payment.
“The city is a partner in this and the city will always pay its share,” Eltahir said. She said its voluntary payment to the EMA is proof of that. “We are in one community and that’s what we should do.”
During Tuesday’s meeting, New Sharon representative Keri Lamberson said she would like to see a representative of Oskaloosa at the agency’s next meeting to answer questions the board has. Oskaloosa Police Chief Ben Boeke is the city’s voting member and was present at both meetings, but lacked specific details regarding the payment.
While she said she didn’t believe there was ill-intent, she would prefer the chance to communicate with Oskaloosa directly on the topic as a board in public rather than one-on-one conversations in private.
“This issue started almost a year ago where they stopped paying,” Lamberson said. “So, it’s not about the audit, there’s something else going on and I think we deserve answers to that as to why they’re not paying their part.
“And I understand everybody may be having budgeting issues and things like that right now, but let’s just be up front about it and give us those answers so we can be honest with the employees and our citizens as to why this has happened.”
To date, Eklofe and Mark Groenendyk, the Mahaska County representative on the board, have said they’ve had dialogue with Eltahir in effort to receive payments.
“It’s better to have them come here so we can all ask the questions at one time,” Lamberson said. “Having the behind-closed-doors-conversations, I don’t think that’s a good idea. This is a public board, it’s going for public use, and I think the public has a right to hear that dialogue.”
After the meeting, Groenendyk told Oskaloosa News that he disagreed with Lamberson’s comments but said he would take them to his board to determine next actions. Ultimately he is just trying to keep a line of communication open, he said.
“When the county is carrying the bag on an agency, I think we owe it to every county employee to make sure our funding is there for them to do their job,” Groenendyk said. “And so I think it’s been well said in our board meetings the only solution is to keep the communication line open and encourage Oskaloosa to pay it, and that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to do.”
If the county continues to need to cover the lapse, it could trigger budgetary impacts on the county, he said.
Editors and reporters from the Oskaloosa Herald and Oskaloosa News collaborated in the reporting of this story. Visit the Herald online at www.oskaloosa.com and Oskaloosa News online at www.oskynews.org. Oskaloosa News’ Ken Allsup contributed reporting to this story.
