Ambulance Fees Considered

Quorum Court Seeking Sources For Rural Benton County Funding

Thursday, February 28, 2013

— Benton County edged closer to resolving the county’s rural ambulance service issue, asking County Judge Bob Clinard to work the current service providers for this year and next year while the Quorum Court ponders a tax or fee to pay for the service beyond that time.

At A Glance

Ambulance Service

The county has asked current ambulance service providers for information on their costs and the amount of money they need from the county to continue providing service into the county’s unincorporated areas. The subsidy requests for 2014 range from $10,000 from Bella Vista, which reported 42 calls for service in the county in 2012, to $416,422 from Siloam Springs, which reported 391 calls for service from the county in 2012. Bentonville is asking the county for $60,000 in 2014 while Pea Ridge is seeking about $25,000, according to Marshal Watson, the county emergency services administrator. Springdale is asking for $68,774 and Gravette is asking for $73,182. The Northeast Benton County Fire Department is asking the county to provide a subsidy of $204,100 for 2014. Rogers is seeking $209,302 to cover its costs in 2014.

Source: Staff Report

Ambulance service to the unincorporated areas of Benton County is provided by municipal fire departments in Rogers, Bentonville, Siloam Springs, Bella Vista, Pea Ridge, Gravette and Springdale and by the Northeast Benton County Fire Department. The county has worked with service providers to reimburse them for their costs since 2010. The Benton County Quorum Court appropriated $100,000 for ambulance service in 2011, increased that to $150,000 in 2012 and to $300,000 in 2013.

The Quorum Court’s Public Safety Committee told Clinard to conclude agreements covering this year, with the addition of a “letter of intent” for Rogers indicating the county plans to fully fund that city’s projected costs. Rogers has estimated its cost will then rise to $317,125 in 2015 and afterwards as the city established an additional ambulance dedicated to serve the southeastern part of the county.

The justices of the peace had some harsh words for the funding requests from the cities and NEBCO, with Justice of the Peace Patrick Carr saying the prospect of cities ending service to the county amounted to “threats” and Justice of the Peace Brent Meyers saying “Blackmail is a wonderful thing.” Clinard said he wouldn’t characterize the requests that way and said the providers had uniformly been “courteous and respectful.”

“Let’s be honest,” Carr said. “This is a threat that if we don’t do what they want, they’re going to shut off service to the citizens of this county.”

Clinard said the county needed to move on with the agreements reached for 2013 and come to a decision on how to configure the ambulance service and how to pay for it.

“We need to get through 2013 so we have this year to determine what we’re going to do,” he said.

“I’ll be happy to move it forward, but by the same token there’s got to be some legitimate reason for these numbers,” said Justice of the Peace Shirley Sandlin.

The committee voted to have Clinard continue working with the current provider, giving him some specific questions about the fire departments costs, billing methods and revenue from ambulance service. Meyers said he saw nothing to justify the city’s requests and asked Clinard to see if the cities will turn over any revenue they collect from calls in the county in exchange for the county subsidy.

While the county judge works to extend the current system, the justices of the peace will be looking at a possible tax or fee system to pay for the ambulance service. Watson said a possible $100 per household fee on the unincorporated areas of the county could raise nearly $2 million, which could pay for the current system and provide money for improvements that could include additional ambulances, stations in rural areas and upgraded services.

Other possible funding methods mentioned by Clinard included a millage increase dedicated to emergency medical service or another tax increase.