Wellington City Council passes resolutions to take charges off uncollected ambulance costs
By Devin McCue, Sumner Newscow — The Wellington City Council met on Tuesday for a far less contentious meeting than last month to handle some routine business.
Every year, the City brings a few familiar ordinances and resolutions to the Council to clear business from the year before and set the next year up for consistency and this meeting was one such instance. The first of those resolutions was the annual charge-off of uncollected ambulance costs.
A small percentage of ambulance costs aren’t paid by patients, either because they can’t afford the heavy prices or die during or after transport. After that, collection is sold to a collection agency, which doesn’t always fulfill the payment. The remainder of uncollected fees, which 2022 amounted to $52,145.91, or 3.6% of the total collected, is then charged off rather than pursued further.
The Council approved the resolution unanimously.
The next annual decision involves how money is tracked on City documents. State law requires Cities to use General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), but allows to forgo that requirement if a substitute is in place. For years, Wellington opts to use the Kansas Municipal Audit and Accounting Guide (KMAAG), which better serves our needs, and this year is no different.
The Council also approved this resolution unanimously.
Other binding actions on the agenda included two ordinances. The first updated the current prohibition on keeping fowl in City limits to include roosters and male fowl. Previously, the prohibition didn’t specifically mention roosters, which allowed the birds to crow loudly in City limits, but this change hopes to make an enforceable penalty for keeping the animals.
The other ordinance abated the special assessment costs at the property at 418 South F Street, dependent on the change in ownership. After some time, the previous owner found a buyer for the land, so the Council followed through on his request to waive these costs.
Both ordinances were approved unanimously.
The Plum Street Waterline Improvement project is over a quarter finished, triggering a payment request from the HUD grant the City uses to pay Hettinger Excavating. The grant paid out 346,814.50, and on receiving the funds, the City and the Council became overseers to ensure the money is going towards completing the project.
Finally, the last decision made at the meeting approved a street closure request for Washington Elementary’s Jog-a-Thon. The event will take place Tuesday October 31, 2023- Washington St from 17th to 18th from 11:45 a.m. to 3 p.m., so participate if you can.
