A tax levy to raise up to $670,000 a year for five years for emergency medical services (EMS) is on the ballot Tuesday (11.05) in Floyd County.
Dave Luett with Nora Springs Volunteer Ambulance Service says EMS tax levy funds will replace the tax subsidies they received from the county in the past.
Floyd County Medical Center CEO Dawnett Willis, on the EMS Advisory Council which helped craft the ballot measure approved by the Board of Supervisors, says the EMS tax levy has one ultimate goal.
Willis says the dedicated funding source from the EMS tax levy is vital in the face of rising costs to provide ambulance service.
Luett and Willis both note that further complicating costs is reduction in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements to ambulance services.
Funds generated by the EMS tax levy could also lead to a county-run ambulance service down the road. In the meantime, Luett says the ambulances providing regular service in Floyd county will benefit from the dedicated funding source, including Nora Springs and Greene ambulances, Marble Rock First Responders and AMR Ambulance.
An EMS tax levy put before Floyd County voters two years ago failed to garner the 60% supermajority required for passage.
