Benton County Starts Trimming For Ambulances

It's hard to resist the urge to suggest someone is getting their just deserts.

The phrase, of course, refers to gettting what one deserves, and it's surely tempting for some advocates for Benton County's failed $85 per household ambulance fee to now say residents of unincorporated areas deserve whatever they get.

What’s the Point?

Benton County leaders have started trimming the 2014 budget to find funding to subsidize rural ambulance service where needed, but programs such as road improvements will be diminished.

The voters convincingly shot down the Quorum Court's solution to supporting rural ambulance service. The idea was to apply the $85 fee annually to households outside the cities to support the infrastructure necessary to ensure an ambulance can respond when a resident dials 911. It is a worthy goal. Our contention all along has been that Benton County is too big -- and growing -- to allow any portion to lack adequate ambulance service protection.

The fee would have generated close to a million dollars a year. That money would be spread among the seven cities that now provide ambulance coverage outside their municipal boundaries. Officials in those cities have said they cannot and will not continue to support ambulance service at levels necessary to meet rural demands for service unless Benton County chips in, subsidizing the operation and mainteinance of the systems.

The plan crashed, and hard.

Faced with the rejection of the fee, county officials have begun the process of funding ambulance services for 2014 without additional revenue. What does that look like? The Finance Committee voted last week to trim $450,000 from the Benton County Road Department. That means fewer miles paved or maintained.

This is where that ol' human temptation about just deserts comes in. One could argue rural residents who see other county services diminished are just getting what they asked for. Yes, county officials can find $1 million in other areas of the budget, but it cannot be reallocated without impact. Budgeting is all about priorities, and preservation of ambulance service will, by it's very nature, get a high priority in annual budgeting, leaving less money to spread to other services.

Nobody should take any satisfaction in making such cuts, however. Residents of rural Benton County simply deserve public officials who strive to solve the public policy issues facing them with good ideas and implementation.

Absent a new source of funding, Benton County officials are doing what they must. Some suggest dipping into reserves, which stand at about $17 million, but other needs may nibble away at that. Ambulance service will be an ongoing cost, so funding from reserves is only a temporary patch, not a final solution.

The Quorum Court is doing what the public demanded. Its discussions have included talk of a hiring freeze and placing a voluntary tax on property tax bills to be sent out later this year. A 2-mill voluntary road tax netted about $217,000 last year, according to the county. That's not chump change. The sad fact is only the compassionate, the ones who care about their neighbors needs and those of visitors, will probably volunteer to pay the tax. We believe public safety to be a fundamental service of government that everyone should help support.

The cities can be expected to respond only so long as they're being subsidized, and that's fair. The burden to develop a long-term plan for funding ambulance service rests with the county judge and Quorum Court. They are cobbling together a plan for the immediate crisis. Perhaps, if county residents are comfortable with diminished services in other parts of the county, these changes can evolve into a more lasting solution.

Commentary on 02/23/2014

Upcoming Events