CAVE SPRINGS — A town hall meeting to discuss Benton County’s plan to pay for rural ambulance service drew a small number of familiar faces to the community building Thursday night.
Tom Allen, justice of the peace for District 4 and meeting organizer, said he was happy with the discussion, but disappointed in the turnout. A sign-in sheet for the event had 19 names on it, many of whom were county officials. Seven other justices of the peace attended, as did County Judge Bob Clinard, George Spence, county attorney, and state Rep. Dan Douglas, a former member of the Quorum Court.
At A Glance
Town Hall Meetings
Several of Benton County’s justices of the peace are planning town hall meetings to offer information plans to make ambulance service available in rural areas.
• Susan Anglin, justice of the peace for District 9, has three meetings set where she plans to provide information about the referendum. Anglin will meet with interested parties at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 16 at Highfill City Hall; at 9 a.m. Jan. 18 at the Centerton’s Mayor’s Coffee at the Centerton Community Center and at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 30 at the Centerton Fire Department.
• Steve Curry, justice of the peace for District 11, has a meeting set for 6 p.m. Jan 24 at the Billy V. Hall Senior Center in Gravette.
• Brent Meyers, justice of the peace for District 14, has a meeting set from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Jan. 25 in the city council room at Lowell City Hall.
• Pat Adams, justice of the peace for District 6, has a meeting set for 6 p.m. Jan. 28 in the community room at the Pea Ridge Fire Department.
Source: Staff Report
“It’s worthwhile,” Allen said. “We got some good discussion and some new people here. I wish we had gotten some more people.”
Benton County has agreed to pay seven municipal fire departments providing rural ambulance service about $942,000 for 2014. The money would ensure the service is available, but not pay the cost of patient care. All of the cities — Bella Vista, Bentonville, Gravette, Pea Ridge, Rogers, Springdale and Siloam Springs — have said they will bill private insurance, Medicaid and Medicare and the patients for the cost of any calls where a patient is transported by ambulance.
The Quorum Court in September created an emergency medical services district with an $85 annual fee to be levied on households in the district. The fee would pay the county’s cost to make ambulance service available.
Theresa Pockrus helped organize a petition for a vote on the fee and district.
The most vocal attendee was Arnold Harp who said he lives near the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport. Harp said he thought rural residents were being slighted by the cities and their contribution to city revenue ignored.
“The amount of sales tax we pay to these cities is unbelievable,” Harp said.
When Allen said the cities have already rejected that argument in talks with the county, Harp said the county needed to stand firm and call their bluff.
“They can say what they want to say,” he said. “I don’t care what they say, it’s what the truth is. We’re not some little stepchildren to be bullied.”
Bruce Farrar, another county resident, said the county shouldn’t accept the cities’ claims of their costs, but should demand proof. He pointed out the county has been increasing the amount of money paid to the cities — from $100,000 in 2011 to the nearly $1 million the cities are asking for in 2014.
“Unless they can justify that, it doesn’t make any difference,” he said.
Pockrus said the proposal puts the burden of the cost on rural residents and said the cities and the county should all acknowledge the contribution those residents make to the budgets of both the cities and the county. She suggested the county might pay one-third of the projected costs, the cities pay one-third and the rural residents pay the remainder, which might come to an annual fee of about $35.
“We’re being told we’re not worth anything,” she said of the plan. “The cities are telling us ‘You haven’t spent enough money in the cities to justify any service.’”
Pockrus agreed Thursday’s forum was valuable, but also said she wished for a larger turnout. She said petition organizers have no plans for any organized campaigning.
“I’m glad to see these folks here tonight,” she said. “I would like to see more people involved.”
The election is set for Feb. 11.
Allen said he disliked imposing a fee on residents but the plan adopted by the Quorum Court was “the best of the bad choices.”
“I still think we did the right thing,” Allen said. “I don’t like it, but I think it’s the right thing. I still hope the fee is upheld. It it’s not — if they vote it down — I’m going to take that as a sign that they don’t want us to fund ambulance service any further after the end of March.”