BENTONVILLE — A Benton County justice of the peace said Friday greed is behind the increasing demands of cities for payment for rural ambulance service.
Steve Curry, justice of the peace for District 11, hosted Friday night’s town hall meeting on the proposal to pay for rural ambulance service. While detailing payments the county has made to the cities, a member of the crowd asked why the payments had jumped from $300,000 in 2013 to $942,000 for 2014.
At A Glance
Town Hall Meetings
Several of Benton County’s justices of the peace are planning meetings to offer information on the plan to make ambulance service available in rural areas. The meetings are:
• 1 p.m. Saturday in the city council room at Lowell City Hall.
• 6 p.m. Tuesday in the community room at the Pea Ridge Fire Department.
• 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Centerton Fire Department.
• 7 p.m. Feb. 3 at the Beaver Lake Fire Department’s Beaver Shores office.
Source: Staff Report
“Greed,” Curry said. “People are asking for too much. I’m not politically correct. I’ll say it.”
Curry fielded questions and offered answers to a crowd of more than 60 at the fifth in a series of meetings on the ambulance issue being hosted by justices of the peace. Along with Curry, Shirley Sandlin, Brent Meyers and Susan Anglin attended.
Curry’s presentation was frequently interrupted by shouted questions and comments from the crowd. Some spoke favorably, with one woman comparing it to “a small insurance policy,” while others were more hostile.
Curry often agreed with the complaints, saying he voted against the measure and he didn’t agree with all of the information the cities provided to the county. He pointed to Siloam Springs as one example.
“They wanted $1,050 per run,” Curry said. “I almost went berserk. There is no way on God’s green Earth they’re going to convince me it costs them that much.”
Bobby Hubbard, a former justice of the peace, said the cities won’t discontinue ambulance service to the rural areas.
“They’re still going to perform the service because they’re still making money,” Hubbard said.
When Curry read part of an email from David Cameron, Siloam Springs’ city manager, saying that city will end rural ambulance service if the county funding ends, Hubbard cut him off.
“It’s a poker game,” Hubbard said. “He’s bluffing.”
Sandlin said county residents take a risk in assuming the cities will continue service without reimbursement.
“It may be a poker game, but it’s people’s lives we’re playing with,” she said. “Do we assume the responsibility if they do and say ‘It’s OK, we played the game and lost.’”
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 district includes households outside cities and not in the Northeast Benton County Emergency Medical Service District.
Rogers and Siloam Springs have told the county in writing they will discontinue service outside their city if some agreement isn’t reached. Springdale officials have said they will not continue ambulance service to the rural areas indefinitely without some resolution.