BENTONVILLE — Benton County's plan to fund a rural ambulance service district through an $85 annual fee was failed in a special election Tuesday.

According to Benton County election officials, the unofficial vote was 1,134, or 32.6 percent, in favor of the proposal and 2,346, or 67.4 percent, voting against the plan. Officials said during the day there were no problems reported in conducting the election.

The Quorum Court in September created an emergency medical services district with an $85 annual fee to pay the county’s cost to make ambulance service available. The fee will be assessed on households outside cities and not in the Northeast Benton County Emergency Medical Service District. A petition drive gathered enough signatures to force a referendum on the proposal.

The county estimated the $85 fee would generate $1.2 million annually. The county originally budgeted $950,000 for 2014 to pay the cities that provide rural ambulance service. The justices of the peace removed the projected revenue from the 2014 budget after learning of the election. They reduced the amount budgeted for ambulance service to $236,000, which would pay the cities — Bella Vista, Bentonville, Gravette, Pea Ridge, Rogers, Siloam Springs and Springdale — through March, until the result of the election was known.

The county commissioned a study of ambulance service from the Ludwig Group. That study listed options the county could consider, including continuing the current system, hiring a private ambulance provider and operating a county system. The report also looked at funding mechanisms and a possible budget for a county system.

The most current estimates show a county ambulance system would require about $2.9 million to start and $2.4 million to operate in the first year. The private providers contacted by the county indicated they would only be interested in a system that granted them exclusive service for all of the county. After months of discussion, the quorum court chose to pursue the formation of the emergency medical services district and the per household fee to fund rural ambulance service as it is now provided by the cities.

The justices of the peace hosted a series of forums on the election in January and February where county residents raised a number of questions and voiced their criticisms of the proposal. People questioned the cost of ambulance service, how the cities arrived at their costs, the proposed funding mechanism and whether county residents paying city sales tax should be factored into the question of compensation to the cities.