Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 8, 1990 TAG: 9006080892
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Finance Director Joel Schlanger will ask City Council to appropriate $50,000 to cover the salary, fringe benefits and other costs for the job.
In a report on council's agenda for Monday night, Schlanger said the city will need someone to work full time to ensure that bingo operators comply with the regulations recently approved.
Schlanger said the accountant position can be financed with money from application and auditing fees for the bingo operations. As part of the new rules, council approved a $200 application fee for bingo operations and an auditing fee that will be based on 2 percent of the gross receipts from bingo proceeds.
The new regulations will require bingo operators to keep complete records of receipts and disbursements. They will also be required to keep records for three years on the dates on which bingo is played, the number of people in attendance on each date and the amount of receipts and prizes for each date.
The regulations also impose restrictions on the frequency of bingo games by organizations, the size and number of instant bingo games and other operational details.
City officials have estimated that bingo operators may have grossed more than $10 million in the past year - nearly four times the $2.6 million that was reported.
Only a small amount of the money has been given to charities and non-profit organizations, Municipal Auditor William Brogan says.
Some bingo operators have reported that their expenses were equal to or larger than their receipts.
Also Monday, council will be asked to authorize city officials to begin first-party billing for emergency rescue calls that involve the transportation of accident victims or patients to hospitals.
Council gave informal approval to first-party billing during its recent budget study when it voted to provide an additional $164,000 to upgrade the emergency medical services program in the next fiscal year.
Under the new billing procedure, accident victims and patients will be responsible for paying the portion of the bill that is not covered by health or hospitalization insurance.
The fee for responding to a basic-life-support call and transporting the victim to the hospital is $100. The fee for an advanced-life-support call is $130.
The city began billing insurance companies for emergency rescue calls a year ago, but insurance doesn't cover the entire cost in all cases. City Manager Robert Herbert said the additional funds from the first-party billing will help pay for improvements to the emergency medical services program.
by CNB