County receives petition for EMS district
WALLACE — Despite only needing 50 signatures, the Shoshone Board of County Commissioners received a petition with 73 signatures requesting that the BOCC form an ambulance district.
This is just the most recent step in the complete overhauling process going on within Shoshone County’s emergency medical services department.
The language of the petition was simple, but called upon the BOCC to fulfill an “essential government function” by making sure that the county has emergency medical services readily available to them.
"We hereby petition the Shoshone County Board of Commissioners to form an Ambulance Service District pursuant to Idaho Code 31-3908. We as well petition that the boundaries of this district would be the boundary of Shoshone County, Idaho. Shoshone County has a duty under Idaho State law to provide for emergency medical services. It is an essential governmental function. Currently this is done under contract with the Shoshone County EMS Corporation and funded by limited reimbursement for services and Shoshone County. The cost to provide our current level of service currently exceeds budgeted money. The formation of an Ambulance Service District will allow for direct funding of EMS services and remove the need for County support. We, the undersigned, are in favor of this petition and citizens of Shoshone County, Idaho."
The petition is being sought after the Shoshone County Emergency Medical Services Corporation (EMS Corp.) submitted a letter to the BOCC announcing its intentions of dissolving the EMS Corp. at the end of May.
The BOCC requested and was granted an extension by the EMS Corp., who has given them until the end of September to figure out their solution with the caveat of adding an extra $5,000 (for a total of $10,000 per month) to their monthly budget.
In its current form, the bulk of local ambulance services are carried out through a series of service agreements between Shoshone County, the EMS Corp., Shoshone County Fire District No. 1, Shoshone County Fire District No. 2 and neighboring counties.
This public petition for the creation of an ambulance district may have given the BOCC their first real option to explore.
The petition itself calls for no changes to the types of responses and level of care currently given, personnel, licensures, equipment, coverage areas and financial support for the extended-rural ambulatory needs.
The proposed ambulance district would have an elected board that would be responsible for program and contract administration, the fiscal responsibility of the district and oversight of its operations.
While the petition is still in its infancy, the question of dollars and cents is really the one that tends to determine whether something passes or fails.
The most recent Shoshone County budget allotted $86,600 annually for the EMS Corp’s operation, which is roughly $40,000 less than the amount that was allotted for it five years ago.
The initial plan was to reduce the amount from the county each year as the EMS Corp. had hoped to be self-sustaining, but too many unpaid bills has left them in a large hole.
According to Idaho code, the new ambulance district can levy up to 0.02% from the population however, as proposed, the amount to be taxed will be what is necessary to maintain the current level of service.
That amount would likely be right around $125,000 per year, which is basically the current budget amount of $86,600 plus the additional $10,000 month for the last four months of this fiscal year.
According to BOCC Chairman Mike Fitzgerald, the petition is an exciting opportunity for them to come up with a solution that is good for both county and the local EMS groups.
“The commissioners are very proud of Shoshone County’s ambulance services and, moreover, the dedicated professionals who carry out the work,” Fitzgerald said. “The BOCC looks forward to learning more about the community’s views on the current ambulance services and the petition to form a new ambulance district.”
A hearing has been scheduled on this petition for Wednesday, June 17 at 1:30 p.m. at the Shoshone County Courthouse in the Commissioners Conference Room.