Statewide Iowa — Iowa counties can now recognize emergency medical services as “essential” and pay for those services through property taxes, under a bill signed into law by Governor Kim Reynolds on Wednesday.
Here in O’Brien County, most all communities operate a volunteer ambulance service, with a donation from the County each year, with another County donation when it becomes time for a community to replace their ambulance. Those County funds are paid out of the General Fund. Other EMS team expenses are paid for by each individual city.
In Sheldon, the vast majority of SCAT (Sheldon Community Ambulance Team) expenses come from the City’s budget, including salaries for full-time SCAT employees. SCAT recently added a third ambulance, for which the County contributed just over $21,500, with the City’s Emergency Depreciation Fund paying the balance of the $200,000-plus cost of the rig. The Emergency Depreciation Fund is the fund used to pay for ambulances, fire trucks, police cars and other Emergency Department capital expenditures, according to City Clerk Angie Beckman.
For extra things, like specialty equipment for the SCAT units, the team, like many others around the area, hold fundraisers.
Unlike fire and police services, local governments in Iowa are not required to provide EMS. Under the new law, county supervisors can declare the work essential and seek approval from voters for a new property tax to support those services.
Advocates of the new law say the shift is sorely needed, especially in rural communities, where residents often rely on a dwindling number of volunteer EMTs.
