IDAHO CITY, Idaho — One of Idaho's rural counties is asking voters to help them save emergency services.
East Boise County Ambulance District covers 68% of the county. They serve residents across 1,300 square miles from Grandjean to Robie Creek.
"We want to have our own governing board that is EMS driven, that understands the special needs of EMS, that can assist in the budgeting, making sure that we have the ambulances cared for the way that they should be making sure that our county is covered, and that the care of health is being taken care of," Mari Adams, the director of operations at EBCAB said.
EBCAD will ask voters to replace the ambulance district with a new EMS district. If passed, the will have their own board making decision for the district, instead of county commissioners like it currently is.
The second part voters agree to, if passing the new EMS district, is slightly higher taxes.
Currently the rate sits at $13 per $100,000 of assessed property value each year. Legally, the most the district could increase the rate to is $40 per $100,000. If the district decides to take the full amount that would be a $27 increase a year for taxpayers.
"The max is $40... we cannot go any higher, but there is a chance that it may be lower than that," Adams said. "We're only going to do what is needed to run this district."
The new levy rate cannot be set until there is a new board. The board will set a new budget, and a new levy rate.
Adams says there will be opportunity for public input on the proposed levy rates in the future, before the board decides the final amount. An increase to taxpayers wouldn't come until 2026.
The money would help the district to hire more staff and pay for ambulance maintenance.
"Right now, we are struggling to keep our ambulance in service, not being able to find enough volunteers to staff the ambulance and to cover that time,' Adams said about staffing ambulances 24 hours a day.
The district has four ambulances, but most times they don't have enough staff to have them all in service. Each ambulance needs a driver, and another person in the back with the patient.
Between the two full-time staff members, and two part time staff members, most of them are working overtime to have at least one ambulance in service.
The district still uses volunteers when they can. The district has about 49 volunteers. but less than half of them are active, Adams said.
"Nowadays, people are having to work more than one job. They have families that they have to take care of," Adams said about volunteers.
When their ambulances aren't in service, they ask for help from crews in the Treasure Valley - if they are available.
"As an outsider coming into this community, I've witnessed a lot of people selflessly take it upon themselves to help others in their most vulnerable moments,' Keith Knittel, this year's EBCAD intern said. "I've seen them make use of all the resources they have available to them, and I've seen how stretched thin the resources are of this ambulance district."
The district has spent almost $40,000 on ambulance maintenance this year, Adams said. There's been times when only one of their ambulances is running properly, she added.
"We've been running on cash reserves since 2020 and we just don't have any money left to keep that going," Adams said.
If the new district doesn't pass, emergency services for the district are on the chopping block, which will impact wait times for patients needing services.
The district is holding an information meeting about the ballot item at 7 p.m. on October 22nd. The meeting will be at Ray Robinson Community Hall.
For more information about the ballot item, visit https://ebcad.net/new-district-information.