Benton County Officials Pitch Ambulance Plan

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

— Benton County officials said Monday their plan to impose a fee to pay for providing rural ambulance service was no one’s first choice, but was a solution the parties could agree on.

“We’re here to give you the cold, hard facts,” Patrick Carr, justice of the peace for District 12, told an audience of about two dozen people gathered at the Siloam Springs Community Center.

“I’m not here to tell you you have to vote for it or not,” Carr said. “I’m not telling you you’re going to like it. I’m here to tell you what is happening. The bottom line if this doesn’t pass is we cut services.”

Carr and Kurt Moore, justice of the peace for District 13, who together represent the Siloam Springs area and southwestern Benton county, hosted Monday night’s meeting, which is one in a series of “town hall” meetings the justices of the peace are holding in advance of the Feb. 11 vote on the county’s plan to set up an Emergency Medical Services District and impose an annual fee of $85 per household in the district to continue to make ambulance service available.

Much of the discussion at Monday’s meeting was familiar, with some questioning why county residents who pay city sales taxes are being asked to pay a fee for city ambulance service.

Chief Greg Neely of the Siloam Springs Fire Department, said for his city sales tax isn’t a consideration. Siloam Springs funds its fire department and ambulance service from the revenue received by the city’s utilities. His department has an annual budget of about $4 million, Neely said, with 80 percent of the department’s costs being EMS-related. Of those costs, he said, calls for service outside the city account for 17 percent or 18 percent costing the city about $576,000.

Siloam Springs has agreed to a payment of about $334,000 for 2014, which doesn’t cover the city’s costs, Neely said. He said city residents also will be paying more for the service.

“We will be doubling the rates for our citizens’ water, sewer and trash service over the next few years,” he said.

Ken Knight, who lives near Siloam Springs, wondered why the county couldn’t find the money in its budget for rural ambulance service.

“Is there not money in the county budget to pay for that?” he asked. “Surely there’s some budget cuts you can make.”

Carr said cutting the budget is not a better option saying the result would be “pretty draconian cuts.”

“What do we cut?” he asked. “Do we cut roads? We adopted a budget with this in it. If we have to pay the municipalities out of our budget, we don’t have an extra million dollars.”

Moore said the Quorum Court considered asking for a sales tax increase to fund ambulance service but decided against it since city residents also would have to approve the increase on top of city taxes they now pay for ambulance service.

At A Glance

Town Hall Meetings

Several of Benton County’s justices of the peace are planning town hall meetings to offer information on the county’s plan to make ambulance service available in rural areas.

Steve Curry, justice of the peace for District 11, has a meeting set for 6 p.m. Friday at the Billy V. Hall Senior Center in Gravette.

Brent Meyers, justice of the peace for District 14, has a meeting set for 1 p.m. Saturday 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.

Susan Anglin, justice of the peace for District 9, will meet with interested parties at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 30 at the Centerton Fire Department.

Mike McKenzie, justice of the peace for District 1, will host a meeting at 7 p.m. Feb. 3 at the Beaver Lake Fire Department’s Beaver Shores office.

Source: Staff Report

“The sales tax didn’t stand a snowball’s chance with the people in the cities having to pay double,” Moore said.

Andy Ingram, a Siloam Springs firefighters who lives outside the city limits, said he didn’t like the fee, but he would pay it if it meant ambulance service will continue. Ingram said it was a matter of saving lives.

“If it doesn’t pass, there’s a lot of people in the county who are going to die,” Ingram said.

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. The Quorum Court created the district and fee for households outside cities and not in the Northeast Benton County Emergency Medical Service District. The fee would be included on property tax statements.

Theresa Pockrus helped organize a successful petition drive to force a vote on the fee and district.

Benton County has been working with the seven cities that provide ambulance service in the county since 2010, seeking a formal arrangement to fund the service. The county paid the cities $100,000 in 2011, increased that to $150,000 in 2012 and further increased the payment to $300,000 in 2013.

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 county has $236,000 in the 2014 budget to pay for ambulance service through the end of March. The justices of the peace on Jan. 14 rejected a resolution saying if the plan is defeated the county will not pay for ambulance service beyond March. At the same meeting the justices of the peace voted down a proposed ordinance appropriating $706,339 from the general fund to pay for ambulance service through the end of 2014.

Rogers and Siloam Springs have told the county in writing they will discontinue service outside their city limits if some agreement is not reached. Springdale officials have said they will not continue ambulance service to the rural areas indefinitely without some resolution of the funding question. The Siloam Springs Board of Directors is set to consider a resolution declaring their intention to end ambulance service at the end of 2014 if a mutually acceptable agreement is not in place by the end of this year.