Residents Suggest Rural Ambulance Service Options

LOWELL — Residents suggested Benton County create a county ambulance service that would also attend to cities as a way to continue service to rural county residents instead of imposing a fee.

Quorum Court members said it wasn’t an option. The discussion was held in a town hall meeting at Lowell City Hall on Saturday.

At A Glance

More Town Halls

Benton County’s plan to pay for rural ambulance service will be discussed:

• 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 Prairie Creek Community Building.

Source: Staff Report

Brent Meyers, justice of the peace for District 14, hosted the sixth meeting about the proposal to levy an $85 annual fee on each household in an emergency medical services district to ensure ambulance service would continue to rural residents.

Residents will vote on the plan Feb. 11.

About 30 residents attended Saturday’s meeting. Justices of the Peace Jay Harrison, Kevin Harrison, Shirley Sandlin and Susan Anglin were present with Meyers and Benton County Judge Bob Clinard.

One of the many options the county considered was creating an ambulance service help rural residents but not those who live in cities, Meyers explained, adding it would cost $3 million to $5 million just to establish then have annual operational costs.

Using contractors was also discussed among county officials; however, contractors weren’t interested in just going to rural areas because that wouldn’t be profitable for them, Meyers said.

Residents pointed to Washington County as an example of a countywide ambulance service and asked why Benton County officials haven’t spoke with mayors of cities in the county to do the same.

“We did,” Clinard said. “And they said they don’t want to give up their ambulance services.”

A couple people were concerned about numbers presented at the meeting in Siloam Springs on Monday, saying the reported $576,000 it costs Siloam Springs for runs outside its limits seemed too high; and if cities wouldn’t consider giving up their ambulance service to a countywide system then the mayors were either hiding something or making money.

Rogers Fire Chief Tom Jenkins said earlier in Saturday’s meeting running an ambulance service is a “money-losing proposition.”

The Rogers Fire Department has a $9 million budget. About 80 percent of service provided is emergency medical care, and the department receives about $1 million in reimbursements from Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance, Jenkins said.

“I read in the paper this morning, when I see words like ‘greed’ it immediately gets my blood pressure up,” he said in regards to a news report about Friday’s meeting in which Steve Curry, justice of the peace for District 11, said greed is behind the demands of cities for payment for rural ambulance service.

Clinard said the problem isn’t with the residents or the cities but with the law, which requires cities and counties to come to an agreement concerning payment for ambulance services.

“What (the cities) think is mutually acceptable is not necessarily mutually acceptable to the county,” he said. “There’s nothing in this law that says they have to charge this much or that much or that they have to prove to us their cost. Every city has a different way to figure their costs. I can’t tell them how to figure their costs.”

Clinard agreed some costs seem high but didn’t specify which city then emphasized there was nothing in the law requiring them to prove their figures.

“That’s a big problem in government,” a resident shouted out.

“It’s a huge problem,” Clinard agreed then said, “I’ve said this before, let’s not demonize the cities because there’s a cost to provide ambulance service to the county. There is a cost.”

Benton County has agreed to pay seven municipal fire departments providing rural ambulance service about $942,000 for 2014, which would ensure ambulance service but not the cost of patient care. All of the cities have said they will bill private insurance, Medicaid and Medicare and the patient 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 and has no plan to pay for rural service if voters rejected the proposed fee in February.

“That’s up in the air,” Meyers said about what happens if the proposal is denied by voters. “There’s no funding on the docket right now. I don’t know if there will be. That will be something to discuss after the election.”

Upcoming Events