If the Benton County Quorum Court was an ambulance, recent events suggest it’s nearly time to activate the siren and lights in response to rescuing emergency medical service for rural residents.
The cities of Springdale and Rogers eff ectively dialed 911 at recent meetings, communicating their expectation that Benton County will fi gure out how to provide the money necessary for the two cities to continue their emergency ambulance responses to rural areas.
Is there anyone listening on the other end of the phone?
Most of Benton County’s emergency ambulance services are provided by departments in the major cities, Bentonville and Rogers, and smaller fi re departments.
Springdale’s part of the equation, too. Part of it lies in Benton County and its fi re department-run ambulance service provides services in a section of rural Benton County.
The issue has been resting fairly comfortably, but insuftcient compensation to these ambulance services for rural calls is inspiring a growing discomfort. Ambulance service is the heart of emergency medical care to county residents, and this inattention is like plaque building in the arteries. Eventually, failure’s going to happen without careful and intentional action.
Work started on this in 2009 when Bentonville declared it could not sustain contributions for rural emergency responses without more compensation for ambulance runs. As recently as July, one justice of the peace predicted the issue wouldn’t be resolved until 2014 or 2015.
But now, Rogers and Springdale have joined Bentonville with a starkly different prognosis: the situation will deteriorate more quickly than that.
Rogers Mayor Greg Hines has told Benton County his city will limit ambulance service beginning July 1 and end it Jan. 1, unless the county shows it is willing to meet the city’s minimum level of funding.
Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse said the county must increase funding for ambulance service or face an end to the service after 2013.
Benton County Judge Bob Clinard continues working to collect information and develop expertise, but any decisions will come from the members of the Benton County Quorum Court.
The ultimatum-ish statements from the cities are an indication they feel a need to dislodge Benton County from a certain amount of apathy.
We’re not sure anyone believes the cities would suddenly cut responses to rural people in need. We hope there’s nobody involved who wants to see the issue come close to the cities having to make that call.
This much is true: The price of Quorum Court inaction will be a growing friction between the county and the cities who feel they’ve been overly generous and, perhaps, taken advantage of for many years.
The primary concern of mayors and city councils will be protection of their own residents. That’s what they’re elected to do. They, of course, want to be good neighbors, but not when it costs them money or, worse, a reduction in service to their residents to cover the county’s needs.
The clock is ticking for Benton County. Nobody has set the alarm, yet. But ambulance services are at least eyeballing a future in which they pull back services.
It’s up to Benton County oftcials to determine whether that will be necessary.
Opinion, Pages 11 on 02/01/2013