Upgrading to an advance life support ambulance by March 1 is a big step and an expensive one, but one for the good of the people the Pea Ridge Fire/EMS Department serves, Fire Chief Jamie Baggett believes.
A $43,000 grant from State Sen. Cecile Bledsoe was a big help in purchasing needed equipment to begin the ALS service, Baggett said. The $100,000 pledged from Benton County was also a major factor, but now, it is possible that money may not be provided.
"Nothing's guaranteed," Pea Ridge Mayor Jackie Crabtree said, explaining that Benton County has budgeted the money through the first quarter of the year and may not make the additional payments if the requested $85 per residence in the county does not pass the Feb. 11 vote.
As to whether the city's ambulance service will continue to run outside the city limits, Crabtree said: "It will depend on the finances as to what we can do."
At a town hall meeting hosted by Justice of the Peace Pat Adams in Pea Ridge Tuesday, Jan. 28, Adams told the crowd of nearly 90 people that some city officials had said they would no longer provide service outside their jurisdiction if the county doesn't pay for ambulance service.
"We've committed to fund it until March 31," Adams told the group, adding that some city officials have said that without payment, ambulance runs to unincorporated areas will cease.
"I won't stop it," Pea Ridge Fire Chief Jamie Baggett said this week.
Neither Crabtree nor Baggett were at the Town Hall meeting. Crabtree, who also serves as president of the Arkansas Municipal League, was hosting the winter conference in Rogers and Baggett was ill.
Pea Ridge Fire/EMS Department area is bounded by Missouri on the north, Bella Vista and Bentonville on the west, Northeast Benton County on the east and Rogers on the south. There are mutual aid agreements with area agencies, Baggett said.
"People need to vote their conscience," Crabtree said of the Feb. 11 election requesting the $85 annual fee attached to property taxes. "People need to understand that the city doesn't squander their money. We make sure every penny is stretched as far as it can be stretched."
Baggett said both he and former Fire Chief Frank Rizzio provided detailed financial records of the cost of an ambulance run and running the department in requesting a share of the funds. In addition to the $26.50 per hour for manpower, there is the cost of equipment and fuel.
"I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing," Baggett said.
Dues now charged to city residents on their water bill and to county residents are solely Fire Department dues.
There were about 635 fire/ambulance runs in 2013 with 404 of those just ambulance runs. Baggett estimated about 20 percent of the department's runs are in the county.
Questions abounded at the Town Hall meeting with many people stating that since people who live in the unincorporated areas shop in the cities, they pay sales tax that helps fund the city's ambulance departments.
One Pea Ridge resident, Haryle Greene, said: "I pay those taxes same as everyone else, plus fire dues, plus 5 mils to the city that helps buy an ambulance. If I call an ambulance, I get billed... Now, the cities, if I understand it right, they buy an ambulance, it is there, it is manned... it's got to be here, somebody has to put up the money up front, and that's where we are. I've heard the cities put down, they have the ambulance, the citizens bought it. Yet I'm hearing, it ought to come out to county, but it ought to be there."
General News on 02/05/2014