City Officials Wary Of Benton County Ambulance Tax

BENTONVILLE -- A proposal to increase property taxes on all Benton County residents to pay for rural ambulance service has little support from city officials.

"On a countywide millage question I can't for the life of me imagine a scenario where city residents will vote to tax themselves to provide a service to other people that they are already paying to provide for themselves," said Rogers Mayor Greg Hines. "I don't think it's going to be received very enthusiastically. It really defies logic."

What’s Next

Quorum Court Meeting

Benton County’s justices of the peace are debating whether to send proposals to fund rural ambulance service to a vote at the Nov. 4 general election. A discussion of the two proposals is on the agenda for the Quorum Court meeting set for 6 p.m. Thursday in the Quorum Courtroom in the County Administration Building, 215 E. Central Ave. in Bentonville.

Source: Staff Report

Two plans to pay for rural ambulance service are being considered.

One calls for an emergency medical services district with a fee $40. The district would cover the unincorporated areas of the county except the area served by the Northeast Benton County Fire Department. A similar plan with an $85 annual fee was rejected by voters in February.

The other plan is a millage increase of 0.2 mills. The levy would increase the annual tax by $4 per $100,000 of value of the property, according to information from the county. The tax would apply to rural and city residents.

Service to the unincorporated areas is provided by seven municipal fire departments and the Northeast Benton County Fire Department. State law requires an agreement between the cities and the county if municipal ambulance service is to be used outside the cities.

Hines points to the Northeast Benton County Fire Department's ambulance service as a model for providing service to the rural areas of the county.

"NEBCO has been a glowing example of how rural ambulance service can work," he said. "The people in that area identified a problem. They identified an amenity they wanted to have in their area and they stepped up and paid for it."

Rogers has notified the county the city will not continue to provide service indefinitely without coming to an agreement. Rogers will continue to work with the county as long as progress is made, Hines said.

"As long as we're moving the needle forward, as long as we're taking significant steps toward a solution I won't be drawing any lines in the sand," Hines said.

Siloam Springs has given notice it will end service if a solution isn't found. That city's board voted to oppose the county millage proposal.

"I can tell you with confidence the policy of the city hasn't changed," said Fire Chief Greg Neely. "This is the county's decision and we'll leave it up to them to decide what they think is best. We're looking out for county residents in our area and for our city residents."

Bentonville Mayor Bob McCaslin said his opinion is the millage proposal has little chance of success.

"I would just speak for myself, but I don't support that concept," McCaslin said. "There are other ways to do it that are more appropriate. I would give that a very low chance of passage."

The county has to decide for itself if it wants to have rural ambulance service and to help pay for the cost, McCaslin said.

"This is a service the county has chosen not to provide," he said. "The cities have provided that service and we're asking them to join in helping pay for that."

McCaslin said he's not ready to end ambulance service outside the city, but something has to be done to pay for the cost of rural ambulance service.

"I'm still not in the camp that says we won't run an ambulance service outside the city, but the county has still got to step up after many decades," he said.

Centerton Mayor Bill Edwards said he thinks the fee on rural households has a better chance of passage. Centerton pays Bentonville $90,000 a year for ambulance service. Centerton residents recently voted for a school millage increase to build the Bentonville School District's second high school and they could be reluctant to support another increase, he said.

"My gut feeling is that whatever they decide to do the county needs to get out and inform the voters," Edwards said.

Mayor Doug Sprouse said Springdale is trying to get ambulance service provided by the city in Benton County on the same contractual footing as the service the city provides in Washington County and to Lowell and Bethel Heights.

Between 5,000 and 6,000 Springdale residents live in Benton County so a millage increase would be a significant issue, Sprouse said.

"The Springdale residents in Benton County are already paying for that service as city residents," he said. "If that's the direction the Quorum Court decides to go I don't have a lot of hope it'll succeed."

NW News on 07/23/2014

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