Establishing a public ambulance in Floyd County won’t come cheap, but neither is continuing with their current private ambulance provider.
Last summer, the City of Charles City and Floyd County agreed to a new three-year contract with American Medical Response (AMR) to continue providing ambulance service. However, it also requires the City and County to subsidize AMR’s operations by paying AMR a combined $415,000 (Floyd County Medical Center will contribute $100,000 for the first year), with a 3% increase in cost each of the following years.
Keith Starr is chair of the Ambulance Commission, which is exploring the possibility of starting a County-run ambulance, like neighbors to the east.
And the price of starting a public ambulance service continues to rise.
Starr adds that, currently, the City has to dip into its general fund to subsidize AMR. To get out from that, and fund a County ambulance, could depend on passage of a County-wide EMS tax levy. If not, some tough choices may have to be made on City services.
The EMS Advisory Council has proposed putting the EMS Tax Levy before voters this September. An EMS Tax Levy that would have generated over $550,000 for 10 years failed in November 2022.
