BENTONVILLE -- Benton County officials will have a familiar discussion Monday when the justices of the peace are briefed on ways to provide rural ambulance service.
Emergency medical services is the only agenda item for the Public Safety Committee meeting which meets at 6 p.m. Justices are examining how to provide service to areas in the southeastern part of the county served by Springdale.
Rural ambulance service
Benton County’s unincorporated areas are provided with ambulance service by Bella Vista, Bentonville, Gravette, Pea Ridge, Rogers, Siloam Springs and Springdale and the Northeast Benton County Fire Department. The county reimburses each of the cities according to its cost of providing the service and is providing NEBCO with $95,000 this year to support that service. Voters approved a 0.2 mill property tax for emergency medical services in November 2014. That tax is expected to bring in about $791,000 in 2015.
Source: Staff report
Springdale has decided to limit ambulance service, provided by its Fire Department, to the area in the city. Fire Chief Mike Irwin said the city plans to end service outside its boundaries Dec. 31. He said the city is willing to work with Benton County past that date, but only if progress is being made to find a service provider.
Irwin said Springdale is staying in touch with county officials and with Lowell officials. Lowell is also served by Springdale ambulance and is working to establish a city service. Irwin said the approaching deadline may be tough for the county to meet.
"It's hard to say, they may struggle to have something in place by Jan. 1," he said. "We're not planning on leaving anyone without service as long as they're making reasonable progress. But certainly we have to see some progress."
County Judge Bob Clinard said the committee will be given five or six options. He said the county is working on proposals for county ambulance service to cover the Hickory Creek area east of Lowell, which includes the bulk of the area now covered by Springdale. The county is also working on county system to provide service to all unincorporated areas except the area covered by the Northeast Benton County Fire Department.
Clinard said the county has also been discussing a contractual arrangement with Mercy Health to mirror both of the proposals for a county service. Contracting with Lowell for service to the Hickory Creek area is another option, he said. The county has also asked Rogers if it would be interested in providing service to the Hickory Creek area, but hasn't received a proposal.
Clinard said the cost to the county will increase no matter what option is chosen. He said the options have different degrees of support from the county.
"It's a lot more than we're paying Springdale," Clinard said. "Every one of them is different, but every private option includes the county providing some facilities, some structures and buying ambulances."
Clinard said very preliminary cost estimates put the county-owned option for all of the rural service areas at a startup cost of about $3.5 million and annual costs of about $700,000 after the first year. The Mercy proposal to cover all of the rural areas has an estimated first-year cost of about $4 million, he said, and an annual cost of about $1.1 million.
Providing coverage for just the Hickory Creek area by a county system would have fist-year costs of about $830,000 and annual costs of $350,000. The Mercy proposal for the Hickory Creek coverage calls for about $1.1 million in first-year costs and $700,000 in annual costs. Lowell service to the Hickory Creek area would cost about $1 million in the first year and $650,000 annually after that, Clinard said.
Benton County is paying Springdale about $71,000 for ambulance service this year, according to Brenda Guenther, comptroller.
Brent Meyers is justice of the peace for District 14, which includes most of the area now covered by Springdale. He said he's concerned the county may not have service in place or be able to persuade Springdale to continue service beyond Dec. 31. Meyers said he's surprised at the difference between the Springdale-provided service and the other options.
"I can't believe an ambulance service costs that much," Meyers said. "I may be without service out here."
Meyers said he's frustrated the justices of the peace haven't been more involved or informed about the status of the issue. He has asked for updates on the situation several times.
"It's disturbing, at a minimum, that anything as simple as ambulance service can become this complex," Meyers said. "I knew about Lowell. I've been in touch with city officials. But I didn't know the other options were that high."
Meyers said the county may have to look at a county system if the costs are lower.
Tom Allen of District 4 and chairman of the Finance Committee said he's also concerned about the cost ambulance service, but the county has an obligation to make sure the service is available.
"All those numbers are higher than I had anticipated," Allen said. "I guess we'll have to dig into the details to make a determination on how to proceed."
Allen said he also wants as much information as possible and a firm idea of how the county is going to proceed soon so the cost can be budgeted.
"It's a significant amount of money. We just had the HVAC system go out at the jail; we've got War Eagle Bridge; we've got the new courts facility and everything else that's coming up. Even though our revenue is looking good, we're spending a lot of it as it comes in."
NW News on 07/10/2015