BOISE, Idaho — A rural county in west central Idaho claims emergency services there have been under funded for years. If things don't change, services could be on the chopping block.
Valley County EMS District is asking voters to help them avoid that.
The EMS district contracts with three fire districts: McCall, Donnelly, and Cascade to provide emergency services.
"We're at a tipping point in Valley County with growth and with tourism, and our resource load has been built on the Valley County of 25 years ago," McCall Fire Chief, Garrett de Jong told KTVB Friday.
The current levy rate of $12 per 100,000 of taxable value was set in 2007 when fire districts were operating on a volunteer EMS system. This was pre-Tamarack and pre-development, de Jong said.
"If somebody needed an ambulance, there was nobody at a station... people got paged out," Valley County EMS Commissioner, Travis Smith told KTVB. "They went to the station, they got an ambulance, they responded. We just don't really have those volunteers anymore. Nobody does. Volunteerism, and that commitment to do that is not there."
Since 2007 a lot has changed. Now the district is operating with full-time positions and continues to see an increase in call volumes. The district is asking voters for a levy rate that would match the scale their operating at.
Voters will decide Nov. 5 to either raise the rate to $35.52 per 100,000 or leave it at the current rate of $12. It will need a two-thirds supermajority vote to pass, which is 66 and two-thirds percent.
"In the last 12 months, our average firefighter has averaged 60 hours a week based on the amount of overtime they're covering," de Jong said. "That model is just completely unsustainable."
Currently those in the fire district are cross trained to be in the fire engine or the ambulance. If passed, the levy would help fund more full time EMS positions, so that people in the fire district aren't trying to do two jobs at once.
"We're having trouble recruiting and retaining people," Smith said. "Some of that is wages, some of that is commute, some of us accessibility to economical housing, the cost of living, valley county, all that stuff. So, we're working our folks more and more."
If the ambulances were fully staffed, fire districts could focus on solely fire prevention.
"If we were to stop doing ambulance transport tomorrow, I could guarantee more consistent and reliable fire protection than we do today," Chief de Jong said.
De Jong's biggest concern if the levy doesn't pass, is having to ask, "Now what?"
"We really don't want to see our friends, families, neighbors or visitors negatively impacted when we really have a pretty reasonable solution to this growing issue," de Jong said.
This is the third time the district has asked voters for the funding, Smith said.
The first was when the new fire district was formed. The second was with a levy in the May election, earlier this year. The Nov. election will be the third.
If the levy fails, the district could be forced to cut services.
"If, and God forbid we do, have to start scaling back services... paramedic services could be one of those things," Smith said. "We're going to look at who has the most call volume, and we're going to have to probably remove a 24-hour seven employee or ambulance out of a slower district, and that's most likely Cascade."
Cutting vital services for a rural community could affect respond time, and the care someone could receive.
"I really want to see valley county covered adequately with EMS fire and law enforcement resources, because we're so remote and it takes hours for us to get additional resources from our partners in the Treasure Valley."
For more information about the levy, you can visit The Valley County EMS District's website.