Yes Or No, Ambulance Issue Remains

It does not matter to me whether residents of Benton County’s unincorporated areas voting in Tuesday’s election approve the $85-per-household annual fee to support ambulance service to those areas.

In the grand scheme of things, I want people to have an ambulance that will respond in a moment of crisis. No 10-year-old crushed under a four-wheeler deserves to be harmed further by adults’ inability to work out a solution. Benton County is too populous and growing too fast to even consider leaving swaths within its boundaries unprotected by ambulance service.

But the specific funding mechanism on Tuesday’s ballot? It doesn’t matter to me. Hey, I live in Fayetteville. I’m not invested in any particular outcome. I will be watching with a great deal of interest. Regardless of the vote tally, county officials (and their constituents) will wake up Wednesday morning with a big question to answer: Where do we go from here?

What if it passes? Will that settle the question?

Not really. It’s been clear since county leaders approved the fee that nobody loves this plan, so I would expect an ongoing eftort to figure out whether there’s a way to build a better system. The county judge and Quorum Court members have essentially said the fee is the best solution they could concoct within financial and political constraints, but it doesn’t go down very easily.

If voters approve it, the fee will provide revenue to pay existing municipal ambulance services to support the necessary infrastructure that makes a rural ambulance response possible. Once the county becomes a paying customer, the relationship with those city ambulance services will change. The county, as a paying customer, will, over time, have every right to demand a certain level of service and even faster response times. The question of what the county gets for its million-dollar contribution will be an annual evaluation, and it should be. These are taxpayer dollars we’re talking about.

Perhaps a new approach can be discovered when the political, demographic or financial picture shifts over the next five, 10 or 20 years.

But what if the ballot issue fails? Some county leaders have irresponsibly suggested a defeat Tuesday means rural residents don’t want ambulance service. That’s a ludicrous interpretation that attempts to let political leaders oft the hook. Who wants to willingly give up the protection that emergency medical care provides for one’s family, friends and neighbors?

Over the last four or five years, county officials have sought feedback from residents about how to structure a system.

They received precious little input. Few residents seemed interested until they could marshal their forces against an idea.

What Benton County needs is more people ready to figure out a solution rather than to fight whatever measure makes the ballot.

Critics are right when they say there are other options, but every option has its pros and cons. If this measure fails, rural residents need to get involved in figuring out how to make rural ambulance service work. The bad news everyone will have to accept, however, is that the days of municipal largess - providing ambulances without financial participation by the county - are over. The demand for services are growing too much for cities to provide a pro bono level of preparedness necessary to serve the county.

I must say this as far as any ongoing debate: There is no future to the rural theory that cities owe county residents use of their ambulance services based on the sales taxes paid inside the city by rural shoppers. That, folks, is a nonstarter for productive discussion toward a solution. There is no scenario in which the cities will suddenly start allocating their sales tax dollars based on the residency of the shoppers who paid them. City sales taxes are designed to support municipal services. That’s why they exist, and people who want to lay claim to the benefits can do so the moment they become city residents.

Consider this: What if cities demanded Benton County devote all of the sales taxes and property taxes it collects from businesses and residents inside the city limits to projects and services within those municipal boundaries?

Suddenly, it would become difficult for Benton County government to function.

If a rural Benton County resident spends his money shopping in Fayetteville, does that city owe the county resident some sort of service back at the resident’s home? How about in Tulsa? Dallas? Those cities have sales taxes, too, but would probably be shocked by any Benton County resident’s claim to the revenue.

Beyond that, much can be debated, whether Tuesday’s decision is yes or no.

True success, no matter whose perspective one takes, is achieving quality ambulance care no matter where it’s needed within Benton County.

GREG HARTON IS OPINION PAGE EDITOR FOR NWA MEDIA.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 02/10/2014

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