The $44,000 gift Ohio University gave to the City of Athens two weeks ago remains unspent, but probably will go toward new fire equipment, Athens Mayor Ric Abel said.
Our inclination is to put it into the capital improvement fund
Abel said. The fund is used to purchase new equipment for the city.
In April, OU President Roderick McDavis presented Abel with a check for $44,000, calling it a gesture of goodwill.
The gift -0.15 percent of the city's $30 million annual budget -is an addition to money the city receives annually from the state of Ohio to help pay for police and fire protection.
The Police and Fire Protection appropriations are designed to help small cities pay for public safety services used by a university, but for which the school does not pay. Because universities do not pay taxes, they do not pay to support city police and fire departments.
City Auditor Kathy Hecht said the $44,000 was deposited into the city's general fund, which is used to pay for city offices, such as police and fire protection.
Athens received $43,058 for fiscal year 2004 from the state's Police and Fire Protection appropriations, Hecht said.
Athens will receive $40,382 for fiscal year 2005, according to data from the Ohio Board of Regents, which doles out state money from the legislature to individual universities before the schools give it to cities.
OU spokesman Jack Jeffery said he was uncertain if OU would give any more gifts like the one two weeks ago to the city, or if the gifts would become annual occurrences.
Abel said the money could be used toward one of three pending expenditures for the Athens Fire Department: repairing the Columbus Road fire station, buying a new fire truck, or matching funds to purchase new fire hoses.
Fire Chief Bob Troxel said the hose grant would bring in $48,000, and if the fire department receives the grant, the city would have to provide 10 percent, or $4,800, in matching funds.
The department has had a lot of issues with its 40-year-old Columbus Road headquarters, Troxel said. The most severe issue -problems with the building's foundation -is being addressed by the city, but total costs have not yet been determined.
The first part of the project would cost between $40,000 and $50,000, said George Enevoldsen, deputy director of development, enforcement and facilities for the city's code enforcement office.
Troxel said the department would buy a new truck to replace one built in 1987 at a cost of about $380,000. He said the department's vehicles are replaced every 20 years.
It'd be nice Abel said of the possibility of more annual gifts from OU, but he said the city is not counting on it. I don't think we'd budget for it until the university would make more of a commitment.
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Chuck Bowen
