Washington County Board of Supervisors Discusses Potential EMS System

There was a discussion on the potential Washington County EMS system at the Sept. 9 Board of Supervisors meeting at 6 p.m.

County Executive Josh Schoemann went over the proposal and talked about the work they have done with learning sessions for the community and the Public Safety Committee to iron out some of the details.

In a previous meeting of the Public Safety Committee they went over how the plan is now tax rate neutral. Meaning that tax payers won’t see an increase from their current rate of $1.40 pertaining to this project.

Schoemann also mentioned that after each learning session, the community’s general response was that they were skeptical but their problem wasn’t with the proposal, rather it was with the process.

Five goals for the project were reiterated for the board. Those are:

Mitigate long-term (five to ten years) property tax burden for Washington County taxpayers

Proliferate the Volunteer and Paid on Call Fire and EMS services

Preserve satisfactory level of EMS Service for all Washington County citizens

Relieve Municipal fiscal pressure, provide fiscal sustainable improvements for Fire/EMS Departments

Promotes shared services and collaboration among county, departments and municipalities.

Between the County Board of Supervisors and the Public Safety Committee, the consensus was that something had to be done about the EMS system.

Since the plan’s conception, some changes have been made. Most recently, to make the plan tax rate neutral, they removed the administrative fee and made the volunteer incentive and municipal share levied.

Originally the plan would cost around $3.5 million, but that has since been brought down to $2.96 million with those changes.

The Public Safety Committee wanted to consider an opt-in program that would require the town boards to create a resolution that shows they want to participate in the county’s program. The resolution would include them asking for grant services from the county to help out with EMS and fire services.

The board highlighted how all municipalities are connected to one another through EMS and fire services. If one community is struggling, another will have to help pick up the slack which could cause that community to struggle.

In the discussion, Dennis Kelling, Washington County Board of Supervisors, Second Vice-Chair District 3 spoke in support of the EMS plan, particularly the opt-in approach.

No action was taken as this was only to serve as an update and discussion.

In upcoming meetings both the County Board of Supervisors and Public Safety Committee will hope to take action on this proposal.

The next Washington County Board of Supervisors meeting is set for Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 6 p.m.