Early Voting Ends In Benton County Ambulance Election
STAFF PHOTO BEN GOFF Hunter Steadman casts his ballot during early voting in the special election on Benton County rural ambulance service on Monday at the Benton County Administration Building in Bentonville.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
BENTONVILLE — Early voting on Benton County’s proposed rural ambulance plan closed Monday with 899 people casting ballots in the special election.
Dana Caler, elections administrator for the County Clerk’s office, said 325 people voted Friday, with 141 people voting in Rogers, 108 in Siloam Springs and 76 in Bentonville.
Election Day balloting begins at 7:30 a.m. today. The polls close at 7:30 p.m.
AT A GLANCE
Polling Information
County Clerk Tena O’Brien said voters with questions about their polling places on Election Day can call her office at 479-271-1013. The office will be staffed and phones answered from 7:30 a.m. when the polls open to 7:30 p.m. when the polls close.
Source: Benton County
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.
Polling Locations For Proposed Emergency Medical Services District
Benton County will have these 15 polling locations open for today’s election on the proposed Emergency Medical Services District. Polls will open at 7:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. Voters unsure of their polling place can call the County Clerk’s Office at 479-271-1013.
Precincts 1, 2 and 4: Gravette Civic Center, 401 Charlotte St. SE, Gravette
Precincts 3 and 50: Monte Ne Baptist Church, 1610 Monte Ne Road, Rogers
Precinct 5: Prairie Creek Association Community Center, 14432 Highway 12 East, RogersPrecincts 6, 7 and 15: Total Life Community Center, 13710 S. Highway 59, Siloam Springs
Precincts 8, 11, 16 and 17: Siloam Springs Community Building, 110 N. Mount Olive St., Siloam Springs
Precincts 18, 19, 20, 39, 68 and 70: Cave Springs Community Building, 117 S. Main St., Cave Springs
Precincts 22, 60 and 72: Centerton Fire House, 755 W. Centerton Blvd., Centerton
Precincts 21, 23 and 25: Hiwasse Fire Station Community Building, 13690 Fire House Lane, Hiwasse
Precincts 30, 31, 32, 63 and 66: Bella Vista Church of Christ, 989 N.W. McNelly Road, Bentonville
Precincts 14, 28, 29, 33 and 58: First Baptist Church of Pea Ridge, 1650 Slack St., Pea Ridge
Precincts 34, 36, 59, 61, 62 and 64: Bentonville Church of Christ, 811 N. Walton Blvd., Bentonville
Precincts 12, 35, 41 and 53: Cornerstone Assembly of God, 4055 N. Second St., Rogers
Precincts 45 and 51: Bland Chapel (Rocky Branch), 8530 Twin Coves Road, Rogers
Precincts 48, 49 and 67: Lowell First Baptist Church, 409 Johnson St., Lowell
Precinct 57: Hickory Creek Fire Station, 15645 Highway 264 East, Lowell
—STAFF REPORT
The county has 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 proposed fee from the 2014 budget after learning of the election. They reduced the amount to $236,000, which will pay the cities through March.
The justices of the peace hosted a series of forums on the election where several questions and criticisms were raised. 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.
Rogers and Siloam Springs have told the county they will discontinue service if some agreement isn’t reached. Springdale officials have said they will not continue ambulance service indefinitely without resolution.
County Clerk Tena O’Brien said early voting started slowly Feb. 4, but picked up through the week until early voting closed on Monday. She said the winter weather may have played a part in the slow start.
“The first two days it was relatively slow,” she said. “Each day after that it picked up somewhat. Through Friday we had 574 people early voting.”
O’Brien said special elections traditionally see lower turnouts than regular elections, but she expected this might be an exception.
“I have felt that with the topic of this election I expected more people to vote in it,” she said.
Kim Dennison, county election coordinator, said the precinct sheriffs had picked up the voting machines and other equipment they need to open polling places for today’s election. She said the county was posting notices in other locations, those that were open Monday, directing people who would normally vote there to their polling place for the special election.