BENTONVILLE — Benton County officials began working Wednesday to keep rural ambulance service in place beyond the end of 2014.

Patrick Carr, justice of the peace for District 12 and chairman of the Public Safety Committee, said Wednesday's meeting was held to air ideas for providing ambulance service.

"We're here to discuss funding and possibilities for funding to have EMS service in the rural areas of the county." Carr said.

Kevin Harrison, justice of the peace for District 5, said he's been working to bring the rural fire departments, the smaller ambulance providers that operate in the county and smaller cities that might be interested in forming their own service into the discussion.

The county's role would be to help with some of the startup costs and then step back and let the other entities run the service, Harrison said.

"I do believe we can create a better model," he said. "It may take some capital outlay for the county to get it going but I believe it will reduce our costs."

Mark Finocchio, Beaver Lake Fire Department fire chief, said he and others have begun working on a fire protection district. Such districts have the authority to have a millage assessed on property in the district to pay for emergency medical services. Finocchio said the department hopes to partner with other departments in the area east of Rogers for ambulance service.

"It's going to take some time to establish, and it's going to have to go to a vote of course," he said.

Finocchio said the current estimate is such a district, if approved, might begin operating in 2016. He told the committee preliminary cost estimates are operating an ambulance service with the Fire Department would require $1.2 million annually.

Carr questioned the expense, even when reducing the total by some amount for fire protection, noting the cost to the county to work with the cities proving the service is $942,000 this year and is expected to increase to $1.2 million in 2016.

"We cover the entire county for $1.2 million," Carr said. "I like where you're going, but I'm not sure if it's the best way for the county to go."

"If Beaver Lake costs $600,000 and Benton County is looking at $1.2 million for the entire county our numbers are way off somewhere," Carr said.

Benton County has worked to provide rural ambulance service for the past four years. The Quorum Court created an Emergency Medical Services District with an $85 annual fee to keep ambulance service as it is now. Voters in the proposed district rejected the plan by a 2-1 margin.

The committee's discussion Wednesday included some questions about money, with Brent Meyers, justice of the peace for District 14, suggesting a $5 fee per vehicle license be imposed to raise money for ambulance service. Meyers also said the county could cut its budget, excluding salaries and major capital equipment. Cutting the remainder would generate $225,000 for each 1 percent cut, Meyers said.

Other options included a special sales tax or millage dedicated for emergency medical services. Theresa Pockrus, who led the petition drive against the EMS district, said she might favor a sales tax if it were restricted to capital expenditures related to ambulance service and included a sunset provision.

The committee took no action, with Carr saying he'll call another meeting next month, but won't set the date until after the justices of the peace have scheduled other committee meetings.

The justices of the peace agreed they wanted more information from the volunteer fire departments and private ambulance providers and Susan Anglin, justice of the peace for District 9, asked that the current providers be contacted again to see if they might consider giving up their services in favor of a county-wide system.

"I want to be sure we've done our due diligence," Anglin said.

NW News on 03/13/2014