Is there any interest in Hardin County to place an EMS as an Essential Service measure on the November 5th ballot?
Hardin County Supervisor BJ Hoffman at a recent board meeting said the county can declare EMS as an Essential Service, but residents must vote on a levy to fund it.
He cited examples of what other counties have had to do to pass a levy.
“They’ve all formulated this EMS advisor council with some EMS providers, some local leaders, taxpayers. It’s been kind of a mixed bunch of people that get together. They figure out number one, what do they want for deliverables? In Hardin County, do you want four ALS, advanced life support units on call 24 seven 365 days a year or do you want two ALS, two basic where are they going to be stationed all that the logistics and the operations need to be looked at and everything all those expenses need to be put into one big number and that number then would come back to us with ballot language that the people of Hardin County would then vote on do you want to pay for EMS service.”
Hoffman says now is the time to gather the needed information if the vote were to take place this year.
“The people want to vote on that. The best time to get the best cross section of voters for the next time would be this fall when there is a city and school election. So that would mean that this EMS council as advisory board by Iowa code probably should start meeting sooner than later to get numbers and deliverables so that if there is interest in a ballot issue that it potentially be put on this fall, that information needs to be provided sooner than later.”
21 counties in Iowa have EMS levies on the books.
