Floyd County Essential EMS Resolution Could Return on November Ballot
A resolution to deem emergency medical services (EMS) as essential in Floyd County could be put to a public vote again this fall.
Last November, a tax levy to generate up to $556,000 a year for 10 years to help fund ambulance and first responder services across the County was defeated, failing to get the 60% supermajority vote to pass.
With the subsidy that Floyd County and the City of Charles City pay to support the operations of their private provider, AMR Ambulance, set to jump from a combined $200,000 this fiscal year up to about $415,000 in the new fiscal year starting July 1st, the EMS tax levy is being revisited.
During a City/County Ambulance Commission last week, the tax levy was discussed as a way to help cover the increased costs, but also part of a long term solution to form a countywide, public ambulance to replace AMR.
During their regular meeting Monday, the Floyd County Board of Supervisors took up the conversation, which Chair Mark Kuhn summed up by noting the need to move the measure forward again.
Supervisors could not take action Monday because it was a discussion item, but the plan is to have it on agenda next week as an action item. If approved, it would set a lengthy process in motion to get the EMS levy on the ballot again, perhaps by this November.
