Springdale To Limit Ambulance Service

BENTONVILLE -- Benton County officials said Wednesday they have no plan in place to provide ambulance service to the part of the county now covered by Springdale, which has set a Jan. 1, 2016, date for ending service.

"I don't know," County Judge Bob Clinard said when asked how the county would adjust to Springdale ending ambulance service.

At A Glance

Meeting Tonight

Benton County’s justices of the peace have scheduled a series of town hall meetings on the county’s two ambulance funding plans. Tom Allen of District 4, will host the meeting, set for 6:30 p.m. at the Cave Springs Community Building. The text of the ordinances, sample ballots and other information can be found at the EMS Vote Information Hub on the county’s website at www.bentoncountyar.….

Source: Staff Report

Clinard said his office received a letter from Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse late last week giving notice of the city's plans. In the letter, Sprouse gives the Jan. 1, 2016, date for ending city service to parts of rural Benton County.

"We have been providing EMS coverage to an area of approximately 304 square miles since 1968," Sprouse said in the letter. "The Springdale Fire Department has kept pace with the ever-increasing demands for service, but we have reached a cross-road that requires a difficult decision. We are at a time in service that we are either going to have to cut back our response area, or add additional ambulance and staff."

Springdale plans to reduce the city's coverage area to "within our own city limits except for mutual aid requests," Sprouse said. The city will work with Lowell and Bethel Heights to help those cities find other solutions and will work with Benton County, he said.

"We want everyone to know that we will not allow any gap in coverage and will work with any agency to ensure that the services needed are continued," Sprouse said in the letter.

Kevin McDonald, assistant fire chief for Springdale, said the city plans to end service to areas in Washington County, not just Benton County. An identical letter was sent to Washington County Judge Marilyn Edwards, giving both counties official notice of the city's plans, McDonald said. Central Emergency Medical Services will take over the Washington County areas previously covered by Springdale, McDonald said.

Springdale has worked toward ending service outside the city for three or four years as the volume of calls began to overtake the available resources, McDonald said.

"It became more and more common for us, with four ambulances, to have all four of them outside the city at our farthest coverage points and literally have none inside the city," he said.

Clinard called Chief Tom Jenkins with the Rogers Fire Department on Wednesday morning to begin a discussion with that city about possibly extending its service area as an interim measure. Rogers will look at the area and the ambulance service needs and evaluate its response, Jenkins said.

Springdale has covered the area served by the Highway 94 East Volunteer Fire Department, along Arkansas 264 and the Hickory Creek area, Jenkins said. While Rogers is willing to help, the city isn't interested in permanently taking on any new responsibilities, he said.

"We're not looking to take on any additional territory," Jenkins said. "As is the case with Springdale, we're primarily wanting to take care of the city of Rogers."

Jenkins suggested residents of the rural areas could find a solution in the model provided by the Northeast Benton County Fire Department's ambulance service, where residents pay an annual fee to support the ambulance service.

"A local provider similar to NEBCO is still by far the best solution," Jenkins said.

Brent Meyers is justice of the peace for District 15 that includes much of the area now served by Springdale. Meyers noted Springdale officials told the county in the past they planned to end coverage outside of the city.

"It was at a Quorum Court meeting or a committee meeting where they stood up and told us they wanted to get out of the ambulance business in Benton County," Meyers said. "I'm not happy about it, but we'll have to deal with it. We've expected it, so here it is."

Meyers, who lives outside Lowell, said he's visited with Lowell officials to see if that city might fill the void, but that will take time.

"It's very frightening," Meyers said. "I have grandkids who come out here. I've got neighbors with kids and grandkids. There are senior citizens who live out here. We've got to work out something, there's no choice. But I don't have any answers right now, or even a suggestion."

Lowell Mayor Eldon Long said his city has been aware of Springdale's intentions and is crafting a plan to establish an ambulance service of its own. The city plans to remodel its main fire station in 2015 to accommodate an ambulance, Long said. The city also hopes to buy an ambulance next year and then later in the year hire personnel to operate the service, Long said. The city would like to have an ambulance in service sometime in 2016, Long said.

Long said he's sure Springdale will work with Lowell if the Jan. 1, 2016, deadline can't be met by his city.

The time line announced by Springdale puts even greater importance on the two ambulance funding proposals that will be voted on Nov. 4, Clinard said.

The county will ask voters to consider two plans to pay part of the cost of ambulance service in unincorporated areas. The county will pay about $942,000 this year to the seven cities that provide ambulance service. The cost is expected to increase to about $1.1 million in 2015.

One proposal would levy 0.2 mills to raise an estimated $834,000 annually. The tax would apply to all residents and all registered voters in Benton County will be able to vote on the tax.

The second proposal is an emergency medical services district with a $40 fee and would raise about $528,000 a year. The district would include the unincorporated areas except the area served by the Northeast Benton County Fire Department. Only voters living in the proposed district will vote on that plan.

"A lot of what Benton County can do is going to be predicated on what happens with these votes," Clinard said. "If county residents stand up and support one or both of these funding plans we'll be able to have a source of revenue for EMS. If we end up having to pay for all our ambulance service costs out of our general revenue we're going to be very limited as to what we can do."

NW News on 10/02/2014

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