BENTON COUNTY — Ambulance service for rural Benton County will be the subject of a pair of hearings July 16 as county officials look at options for providing the service.

The county has distributed the third draft of a study it commissioned last year from the Ludwig Group. The study will be discussed at a meeting of the Intergovernmental Council and the Public Safety Committee.

Officials began working on ambulance service in unincorporated areas of the county in 2009 after Bentonville representatives raised the issue and said the city couldn’t continue providing service in the county without being reimbursed.

The county paid $100,000 in 2011 and budgeted $150,000 for 2012 to reimburse ambulance providers as a token of the intention to find a solution.

Bentonville asked for $400 for each ambulance run into unincorporated areas that results in a patient being transported. No agreement has been reached with Bentonville or other ambulance service providers.

The 100-page draft from Ludwig details methods used in the study, reviews information about emergency medical operationsand provides information adopted in other areas.

The study makes a number of recommendations and includes ways to provide service in the county.

Options range from doing nothing to establishing a service as a department of county government.

The study also includes a hypothetical budget for an emergency medical services department with a startup of about $1 million and an annual budget of about $2 million. The report suggests a millage increase to pay for system.

Clinard said the plan willbe discussed with ambulance service providers and other interested parties at the Intergovernmental Council, which includes representatives of the county and its cities. He said the study is a good basis for discussion.

Clinard said he thinks the most likely solution will be found in the options building on the existing ambulance services and the needs of the unincorporated areas. He ruled out doing nothing and was skeptical of the idea of building a countywide emergency medical service system from scratch.

Community, Pages 11 on 07/04/2012