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Keokuk Volunteer Emergency Corps — Public Comment & Documentation
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City Records Show at Least $63,095 Budgeted for KVEC Since 2017

Published July 21, 2026 at 3:26 AM

The City of Keokuk’s own financial records show that at least $63,095 was budgeted for the Keokuk Volunteer Emergency Corps between fiscal year 2017–2018 and fiscal year 2023–2024.


That total does not include the value of City-owned vehicles, equipment, property, storage space, maintenance work or other municipal resources provided to KVEC. It also does not include the fiscal year 2024–2025 or 2025–2026 Emergency Corp budgets because the detailed departmental figures for those two years have not been located in the budget documents currently published by the City.


The actual amount of public support provided to KVEC since 2017 is therefore higher than $63,095.


The Recorded Budget Total


City budget reports, worksheets and adopted budget books identify KVEC under the names “Emergency Corp” and “Fire Emergency Corp.” The organization was assigned City accounting code 001-152 and included within the City’s public-safety finances.


The budgeted amounts that can presently be documented are:



Total documented budgeted funding: $63,095


This figure is based on the budget totals recorded by the City for Emergency Corp operations. It is not an estimate of privately raised donations, and it does not combine public and private revenue. It represents money formally placed within the City’s own budget for the organization.


The Budget Grew Over Time


The City budgeted $6,225 for Emergency Corp operations in fiscal year 2017–2018. By fiscal year 2023–2024, the amount had increased to $12,120.


That is an increase of $5,895, or approximately 94.7 percent, over the seven-year period.


The increase is significant because city officials have described KVEC as self-funded and unaffiliated with the City. The budget records show that municipal support was not limited to a single isolated payment. It was renewed year after year and increased substantially over time.


These Were Operating Budgets, Not Ceremonial Appropriations


The detailed account records show that the City budgeted money for the ordinary operation of KVEC, including:



These are the expenses required to keep an emergency-response organization functioning. They are not simply honorary donations or occasional contributions to a community group.


When the City pays for an organization’s fuel, utilities, building expenses, vehicle repairs, insurance-related costs, supplies and equipment, that organization is receiving direct municipal financial support.


Workers’ Compensation Raises Another Question


The City budget also included workers’ compensation expenses for the Emergency Corp. KVEC members were volunteers and did not receive ordinary wages, but unpaid emergency volunteers can still receive workers’ compensation protection under Iowa law if they are injured while serving.


The existence of that expense does not prove KVEC members were paid employees. It does, however, raise another important question about the City’s claimed lack of affiliation.


If KVEC was entirely independent from the City, why was workers’ compensation coverage for its volunteers included in the City of Keokuk’s Emergency Corp budget?


Workers’ compensation coverage involves more than a casual donation. It requires an insurer or public entity to recognize who is covered, what duties they perform and under whose authority they are acting when an injury occurs.


The public deserves to know whether KVEC members were covered under the City’s workers’ compensation policy, what records were maintained for that coverage, who reported members to the insurer and how the City defined its relationship with KVEC when obtaining or administering that protection.


The City’s position appears inconsistent if KVEC was treated as connected to municipal emergency services for insurance and budgeting purposes but described as unaffiliated when citizens requested financial accountability.


The City Recorded Actual Spending


The financial records also show that the Emergency Corp budget was used.


An October 2017 City report listed a $6,225 Emergency Corp budget and showed that $1,454.89 had already been spent. By the following month, year-to-date spending had increased to $2,503.95.


Later City worksheets recorded actual Emergency Corp spending of:



In one recorded fiscal year, Emergency Corp expenses exceeded the adopted budget by $2,370.46.


The records therefore establish both appropriated funding and actual City-accounted expenditures.


KVEC Was Part of the City’s Public-Safety Budget


The fiscal year 2023–2024 budget book did not place Emergency Corp among donations to outside charities. It listed “Emergency Corp Pub Safety” as part of the Fire Department subtotal.


The same budget book included City accounts specifically labeled:



That language is particularly important. The City’s own accounting system did not merely refer vaguely to emergency services. It specifically named KVEC in accounts used to pay for vehicles, utilities and supplies.


A private, self-funded organization with no City affiliation would not ordinarily have its operating expenses assigned to a dedicated City department code and incorporated into the City’s public-safety budget.


Funding Continued Beyond 2023–2024


The $63,095 total stops at fiscal year 2023–2024 because that is the latest year for which a detailed Emergency Corp amount has been verified in the published City budget books.


That does not mean City support ended.


Minutes from a January 24, 2024 City Council budget workshop state that the council reviewed the fiscal year 2024–2025 budgets for Police, Animal Control, Fire and Emergency Corp.


Minutes from a January 2025 budget workshop state that the council reviewed the fiscal year 2025–2026 budgets for Animal Control, Police, Fire, Emergency Corp and Mayor/Clerk.


The current adopted budget files published on the City’s annual budget page provide broad state reporting categories but do not disclose a separate Emergency Corp departmental amount. Until the City releases the detailed worksheets, the 2024–2025 and 2025–2026 figures cannot be added to the total with confidence.


For that reason, $63,095 should be understood as a documented minimum, not the final amount.


The Total Does Not Include City Property and Equipment


The recorded budget total also fails to capture the full value of the City’s support.


KVEC has used City-owned vehicles and equipment. Its City-owned International 4900 response unit has been stored inside a front apparatus bay at the Keokuk Fire Department, with the KVEC logo visible on the vehicle’s doors from South 13th Street.


City support may also include the value of:



Those resources have real monetary value, even when they do not appear as a payment directly issued to KVEC.


The Public Was Told a Different Story


Former Mayor Kathie Mahoney claimed that KVEC was not affiliated with the City and that the City therefore could not have the organization audited.


The City’s published financial records contradict the broad claim that no affiliation existed.


The City gave KVEC a dedicated municipal account, budgeted funds for it annually, paid operating expenses, tracked actual spending, listed it within public safety, provided City-owned vehicles and reviewed its budget alongside City departments.


During the October 2025 City Council meeting, the Fire Chief also stated that KVEC was not connected to the Keokuk Fire Department. That statement is difficult to reconcile with membership applications being routed to the Fire Chief’s desk and a City-owned KVEC response vehicle being stored inside one of the Fire Department’s front bays.


The City cannot fund KVEC, maintain accounts in its name, house its response vehicle, review its annual budget and then deny any meaningful connection when citizens ask for accountability.


What the City Must Release


Save KVEC is calling on the City of Keokuk to release the complete departmental budget and expenditure records for fiscal years 2024–2025 and 2025–2026, along with all available historical records connected to account code 001-152.


The public should receive:



Keokuk Deserves the Complete Total


The available records already establish that the City budgeted at least $63,095 for KVEC between fiscal year 2017–2018 and fiscal year 2023–2024.


The amount rises further when the two following fiscal years and the value of City property, vehicles, equipment and services are included.


This is not a theory, rumor or personal interpretation. The funding appears in the City of Keokuk’s own financial records.


The question is no longer whether the City supported KVEC.


The records show that it did.


The questions now are how much public support was provided in total, how those resources were managed, why citizens were given conflicting information and why a complete review was refused.


Keokuk citizens deserve the full records, the full total and the truth.


Sources


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