Discussion of a proposed budget for 2006-07 for the new Southern Platte Ambulance District drew angry responses from some in the audience at a district board of directors meeting on Friday afternoon.

During the board’s first meeting, secretary Marte Zirschky said this new district had been offered low rent or free space at city hall or the Parkville Depot to store a desk, file cabinet and phone line. Richard Carrizzo also offered space at Station No. 4 of the Southern Platte Fire Protection District. Carrizzo’s offer included a meeting room and help from the district’s administrative assistant. Kincaid had refused to accept these free gestures, stating time was running out to choose a budget.

“We haven’t been given enough time to do all of this by September,” Kincaid said. “Ladies and gentlemen, I want a price on everything. We should accept no services for free. I want a signed receipt for anything we purchase and I refuse to pre-negotiate with anyone until we have set the levy rate. We have to start from scratch. We need a line item for everything and I won’t cut the budget because people are offering freebies. If we allow these free offers, we could be setting ourselves up for a political situation.”

The board must choose a tax rate to be set by Sept. 1 in order to receive the money by early January of 2007. There will be a public hearing on Monday, Aug. 28 at 6:30 p.m. at The south Platte County Community Center for the public to voice their concerns. This special meeting was held to propose a tax rate and budget to be presented to residents at this public hearing.

The board bickered for over an hour as they disagreed on what items were necessary to place on the budget. The idea was approached that secretary Zirschky needed her own laptop to accomplish her duties.

“It’s not fair for Marte to use her personal computer for this business,” board member Kurt Breininger said. “Eventually this ambulance district needs to stand alone. It’s easy to say ‘we need to keep the costs down,’ but we should budget for items as if we need them.”