County still seeks money

Officials lack plan to pay for ambulance service

BENTON COUNTY - Benton County officials tentatively have agreed to pay for rural ambulance service in 2014, but the county still lacks a longterm funding method for the service.

“All we’re doing right now is buying time,” Kurt Moore, justice of the peace for District 13, said Wednesday.

The Finance Committee recommended approving the 2014 budget requests from six of the eight ambulance service providers. The committee will discuss the requests from Pea Ridge in July and Northeast Benton County Fire Department in August. Those two departments, along with fire departments in Bella Vista, Bentonville, Gravette, Rogers, Siloam Springs and Springdale, provide ambulance service to the unincorporated areas of the county.

The county and the fire departments have discussed a means of paying for ambulance service for the past several years. The county began to offer an annual subsidy in 2011, dividing $100,000 among the seven municipal fire departments. In 2012, the county increased the subsidy to $150,000 and included NEBCO in the distribution. For 2013, the county has offered a subsidy of $300,000 divided among the eight providers.

The county asked the ambulance service providers earlier this year to develop their own estimates of the cost of providing ambulance service. The eight fire departments responded with requests ranging from $10,000 for Bella Vista, that has the smallest response area and call volume, to $416,422.82 from Siloam Springs, that covers one of the largest areas and has the second highest call volume behind Rogers.

Sarah Daniels, county comptroller, said the six requests endorsed by the Finance Committee on Tuesday bring the amount earmarked for ambulance service in 2014 to $812,258.82. The requests from Bella Vista, Bentonville, Gravette, Rogers and Springdale were all recommended for approval and sent to the Quorum Court’s Committee of the Whole. Siloam Springs officials agreed to a slightly reduced amount for 2014 - $391,000 instead of $416,422 - when that city agreed to use the $1,000 per call it charges West Siloam Springs, Okla., for ambulance service and base next year’s payment in the number of responses logged in 2012.

Decisions on county reimbursement for Pea Ridge and NEBCO were delayed by the justices of the peace. For NEBCO, the justices of the peace agreed to wait until after a July 9 special election. Residents of the NEBCO Emergency Medical Services District will vote on a proposed increase in the annual per household fee from the current $40 to $100. The justices of the peace also wanted to have more information from Pea Ridge about plans to upgrade its ambulance service and asked city officials to attend the July 2 Finance Committee meeting.

Pea Ridge Mayor Jackie Crabtree said his city has worked on plans to upgrade the ambulance service for some time, and the county subsidy is not being looked at as a way to pay for the improvements needed.

“The cost would be substantially more than that,” Crabtree said. “We would need additional equipment and additional staff. The number there is just what it would cost per run.”

Moore said justices of the peace also need to begin considering a long term solution to the ambulance service problem and suggested the discussion should take place during the Quorum Court’s annual budget meetings that typically begin in early October.

“I think that’s a good time to start talking, but I don’t think we’re going to get anything settled this year,” Moore said. “We’ve basically got two options - a millage or a service fee. Either way you’re going to have to have some idea of how much money you’re going to raise with either of those. Once you set your millage or fee you’re pretty well locked in.”

Moore is still interested in looking at the possibility of a county-run ambulance system that would supplant the current system of working with city fire departments. County Judge Bob Clinard said he doubts the county can afford its own service at a comparable rate now offered by the cities.

“Unless the numbers get completely ridiculous, we cannot furnish the service ourselves,” Clinard said.

Marshal Watson, county public safety administrator, said the county’s study on ambulance service estimated it would cost about $3 million to get a service operating and about $2 million a year to operate after the initial startup period.

“It’s just flat more expensive for us to do it,” Clinard said.

The decision to fund ambulance service for 2014 at the levels requested by the fire departments should push justices of the peace to move the discussion forward, Moore said.

“Now that there’s actually some money coming out of our pockets that’s some powerful incentive to get something done,” Moore said. “When it’s just potential costs, that’s one thing. When it’s actually money from your pocket that’s something else.”

News, Pages 4 on 06/12/2013