Officials Spar Over Floyd County Ambulance Financing

Future funding of primary ambulance service in Floyd County as well as what that service might be like down the road were discussed during a special meeting Tuesday morning of the Floyd County Medical Center (FCMC) Board of Trustees.

The City of Charles City and the County jointly contract with AMR Ambulance, but also subsidize their operating costs, paying the private provider about $427,000 this fiscal year, with an increase next year to $440,000. Earlier this year, FCMC agreed to contribute over $100,000 a year to help with that payment.

Whether FCMC will continue after that is uncertain, with Trustee Amanda McCarty expressing concerns over the uncertainty of future costs.

Floyd County Supervisors chair Mark Kuhn lobbied Trustees that FCMC has a vested interest in financially supporting the AMR Ambulance service.

Trustee Viva Boerschel countered that FCMC originally agreed to help with the subsidy payment, but only as a short term solution for ambulance service.

Kuhn said FCMC, Charles City and the County should be splitting the expense by one-third each.

However, the meeting ended abruptly after Kuhn speculated on the origin of the possibility that FCMC would not honor their 28E agreedment.

In the end, no action was taken on the matter by the Board of Trustees.”