If you feel like you are on a merry-go-round with ambulances rather than horses, you probably have been following the "rural ambulance service" issue for a while. Originally this appeared to be an issue of providing ambulance service to those areas currently "unserved" or "underserved" by the existing system. Then it became a numbers issue as the Quorum Court tried to pay the major cities to provide the service when needed, but the cities' requests for payment rose each time a number was discussed. And, now the Quorum Court has not succeeded in getting a majority of its members to agree on a plan to put funding up for a vote by someone. One plan calls for a county-wide vote; the second plan requires a vote of only rural, uncovered by a city plan, residents.
My assessment of the current state is we are pretty much back to square one. At least I thought the Quorum Court had a majority in agreement on a plan of some kind, but I keep forgetting about "politics." It seemed, going into last Thursday night (July 24) that everything had been said. Apparently I was in error and some things have been overlooked.
A county-wide millage (proposed at 0.2 mills) is not much different than a sales tax imposed by the city on every item sold within the city regardless of who the buyer is or where they live. A Siloam Springs resident or a rural resident pay the same sales tax on an item they purchase in the city of Rogers, just like a resident of the city, even though they don't live there. The revenue from any county-wide millage is going to go back to the cities for the ambulance service under the existing plan. It is easy to understand the view of city folks who don't want to pay for a service they already receive. Rural residents feel that way every time they go into a city to buy something. Whether the Quorum Court can agree to put this funding mechanism to a vote is yet to be seen. The really big test will come if they try to sell the millage idea over the objections of some of the cities' mayors.
Until the debate goes back to the starting point and everyone involved acknowledges that the ambulance service is the first priority -- not subsidizing the city/cities, we will probably find ourselves back at the same point and the county's treasury a million dollars or so poorer. Why that money is not expended on solving the problem, rather than pacifying the cities' demands, escapes me.
After numerous town meetings concerning the selling of the $85 rural fee, surely the members of the Quorum Court heard what the rural residents had to say about spending their money. Is it not possible to work with specific areas of the rural county and their nearest city, or a willing, cooperating city, to provide for the service and an equitable means of payment?
Unless the Quorum Court follows that avenue, or pursues a county-wide ambulance service, my guess is the wheel will still turn and we will go around and around and around.
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Editor's note: Leo Lynch is an award-winning columnist. He is a native of Benton County has deep roots in northwest Arkansas. He is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Editorial on 07/30/2014