CANFIELD — Cardinal Joint Fire District directors agreed Monday to ask voters in May to approve additional funding to keep a full staff of firefighters and EMTs.

A 1.63-mill continuing levy on the May ballot, if approved, would cost $57 per year per $100,000 of valuation, and it would bring in around $1 million per year.

Fire Chief Don Hutchison explained that this levy would be for the “ambulance side” of operations. The fire district already has three general and one equipment levies.

The district has three stations, and staffs three shifts. “This is to add three more full-time on a shift (eventually, nine employees), and also to fund the ambulances, replace them, the equipment and all of that,” he explained. “This is to keep the ambulance (service) going, too.”

Hutchison has also noted the fire district has become one of the bottom players in wages for emergency medical technicians and paramedics. With other Mahoning Valley departments paying more, the CJFD is beginning to see people leave for more money, he said.

The board then decided to seek voter approval of the 1.63-mill levy to keep a full roster and offer a more competitive salary.

“We have an aging community,” said board chairman Richard Russo. “Our ambulances are running every day. We need to maintain those ambulance [crews] with a little bit of money.”

Hutchison said ambulance transports last year rose 18 percent. He said sometimes all four of the district’s ambulances were transporting patients, and departments such as Ellsworth had to cover the Canfield area.

“This past Friday we had seven people on duty and had six EMS calls in a matter of two hours,” the chief said.

On the plus side, Hutchison said the soft-bill ambulance service has saved Canfield residents roughly $365,000 in 2021. Since the taxpayer / residents are paying for the district, whenever a resident is transported to a hospital, only the person’s insurance is billed. Anything not covered by insurance is dropped, costing the residents nothing out-of-pocket.

Russo said there were just two issues dealing with a fire levy.

“First, we [board members] have the task to maintain safety. We have to keep pace with wages when everyone else’s are going up,” he said. “Second, the school board is putting on a levy that could be in conflict.”

That is one issue that had been in the background for several months. Some thought the school board and the fire board would both put their levies on and would be battling one another.

School board member Traci DeCapua was given the floor during the fire board meeting.

“The school board is in the same position,” she said. “Our buildings need to be replaced. I believe we can complement each other and come together. After all we are one community.”

Russo replied, “We want to support the school levy, and we don’t want to go head-to-head at this crucial time.”

The Canfield Board of Education started off the new year by approving a bond levy for the May 3 ballot. The bond levy would be 6.9 mills and would raise $107,800,000 over its 37-year span to build a new school to replace Hilltop, C.H. Campbell and Canfield Village Middle School.

Fire Board member John Morvay said the community needs approval for both levies.

“I sacrificed to move my family to Canfield,” he said. “I will sacrifice again to maintain the community I care about.”

Board member Greg Bestic agreed, although he was at the meeting through a computer video conference. His opinion was in line with the other four board members, but he could not vote on the issue.

Approving the placement of the levy were fire board members Russo, Nikunj Patel, Morvay, and Joe Paloski.

jtwhitehouse@vindy.com