Ambulance service will cost Little Flock $36,400 more in 2014 than in 2012 as Rogers increases the bill to meet its costs of the service.
The town’s struggle to find money for ambulance service is a microcosm of the problem unfolding for Benton County where seven agencies, including Rogers, provide emergency medical services to unincorporated areas. State law states cities can extend ambulance services outside their boundaries, but costs should be born by the patient and their city or county of residence. Both Little Flock and Benton County began paying Rogers for ambulance services in 2010.
The issue for Rogers is manpower, said Fire Chief Tom Jenkins. Now, when a Rogers ambulance is sent out of the city, it cuts into ambulance availability in Rogers, and city taxpayers essentially foot the bill, Jenkins said. Increased fees proposed to Little Flock and Benton County will pay salaries for medic-trained firefighters to serve the wider area.
“We’re just looking at a human resource. We have the ambulances. We have the buildings,” Jenkins said.
The county is incrementally increasing payments to local agencies, paying Rogers $29,257 in 2012 and $24,708 the year before.
For the past two years, Little Flock has paid Rogers $17,281 for ambulance service, but a July request from Rogers upped that agreement to $48,687 to help pay firefighters/medics and $5,000 toward an ambulance replacement fund. The $53,687 price goes into effect in 2014. This year Little Flock will pay half the new agreement, or $26,843.50.
That increase, combined with stagnant census numbers, is a big problem for Little Flock.