Monday saw a contentious meeting between the public and the Tama Council. There were technically two meetings on Monday: the first was a public hearing for the proposed tax rate, and the other was a work session for the council.

The main topics of discourse between the council and the public were the budget changes to the Police Department and EMS. The council went through multiple line items for both departments; overtime was one of the bigger issues for the Police Department. Some council members wanted to cut the budgeted $30,000 in half, while others thought that time management may be the solution, as well as the use of reserve officers.

One citizen asked what happens if the PD’s overtime and reserve budget both get spent. Council member Chris Smith stated that they will then have a special hearing to determine why they went over the total budget.

“Part of the intent on some of this, too, is it raises some accountability and scheduling everything else as before; it was going untracked, for, you know, $50,000 that we didn’t know was going out because it wasn’t showing on the right line item,” he said.

They went on to talk more about better scheduling and the use of reserve officers. It was brought up that unless a reserve officer is certified, there are certain things they are not allowed to do. Mayor Kristy Eisentrager answered this, referencing the 28E agreements that Tama has with the Toledo Police Department and the Tama County Sheriff’s Office.

“There’s always deputies on duty. So, It just might take a little longer to get one there,” she said.

Eisentrager kicked off the discussion over the EMS budget by presenting some figures.

“EMS, for example, two years ago their budget was $815,000, one year ago it was $872,000. This year, they started the year asking (for) over $1.3 million. So, it’s one of them things we gotta kinda justify,” she said.

Members of the EMS staff brought up the fact that 70% of the income from the transfers made by Tama EMS goes into the town’s general fund.

“So, when you’re comparing numbers, and you’re saying EMS has to decrease their budget, maybe we do need to decrease our budget, but you also need to take into account the fact that that transfer money is going to the general fund. That transfer money is helping everyone,” Ruth Hildal, Tama EMS Paramedic Shift Supervisor, said.

The hospital transfers have been a program that Tama EMS has had since 2023. When asked if there was any indication that the transfer contract would be terminated, Eisentrager’s response was, “We don’t know. That’s the thing we don’t know.”

Specific numbers for other EMS expenses were disputed between the council and members of Tama EMS. For example, Councilman Smith put forth that the total ambulance maintenance cost is approximately $200,000, and Hildahl from Tama EMS stated that the number is approximately $30,000.

Most of the audience left after these two subjects were done being discussed by the council.