BENTONVILLE -- Benton County's justices of the peace are still wrestling with questions about rural ambulance service.
The Quorum Court spent about half its meeting Thursday discussing whether the county should pay Northeast Benton County Emergency Medical Services District the same way it will pay cities to provide service outside their boundaries.
At A Glance
Court Action
Benton County’s Quorum court met Thursday and approved:
• Asking the state to increase the daily amount paid for holding state prisoners in the county jail.
• Spending $1 million from the health insurance program to cover expenses for 2014.
• Setting the property tax millage for the county, cities, schools and other taxing units in the county.
• Spending $230,000 to cover utility costs at the jail.
• Spending $30,000 to pay for salaries and other costs incurred by the Election Commission.
• Spending $5,290 on new phones for the Sheriff’s Office.
• Spending $14,200 to pay the final invoice for the new financial software contract.
• Setting the procedure to fill a temporary sheriff vacancy.
Source: Staff Report
Voters approved a property tax of 0.2 mills Nov. 4 to provide a dedicated revenue source to pay for rural ambulance service. NEBCO officials and members of the Budget Committee discussed the question of money for the district at Monday's meeting, and the discussion was left on the committee's agenda.
Pat Adams of District 6 said he's heard from a number of residents in the NEBCO district who think they were misled about the millage proposal.
"I've been approached by some of the citizens out there," Adams said. "They've been told they weren't going to receive any of the money even though the millage passed."
Adams said the county needs to look into reaching an agreement with NEBCO to provide some money, which he said the Quorum Court has indicated in the past it would do.
"There are a lot of concerned citizens out there," he said "They think we sold them a false bill of goods."
Tom Allen of District 4 said the county has to be mindful of some basic differences between the city services and NEBCO. The cities are being reimbursed for the cost of providing service outside their boundaries, while NEBCO is asking for money to subsidize service within the district, Allen said.
"They're not the same as the cities," Allen said. "They're only serving within their district. We don't want to see them fail. We want to encourage more of these type of EMS districts out in the county. But we have to be good stewards of the taxpayers' money for everyone in the county."
County Judge Bob Clinard said he met with Kara Funk, who heads up NEBCO's board, earlier Thursday and will meet with NEBCO representatives again Tuesday to discuss the issues. Clinard said he'll have the Accounting Department and Emergency Management Agency provide as much background information as possible for the Budget Committee meeting at 6 p.m. Monday.
"This is an unusual situation," Clinard said. "They're different than the cities."
NW News on 11/21/2014