Commissioners accept petition to create ESD
Milam County Commissioners approved an agreement with AMR ambulance services to include a new Quick Response Vehicle and received a petition to create an emergency services district during a meeting on Monday.
Commissioners accepted a petition from a group of citizens to create an ESD for ground and air ambulance service in the county. The court will conduct a public hearing on Aug. 8 at 10 a.m. at the courthouse to give anyone an opportunity to speak for or against the district. After the public hearing the court will take action to put the item on the November ballot.
The purpose of the ESD is to collect a tax from every property owner in Milam County to pay for better ground and air ambulance service in the county.
“Ambulance service in this County and most others, is not a very profitable endeavor,” County Judge Steve Young said. “Many who need an ambulance do not have insurance coverage and even those with coverage, have little for ambulance services and thus this is a low or no profit business. Therefore, to have ground and air ambulance services, tax revenue has been used to pay an annual subsidy to our providers. Currently, county government, the City of Rockdale and the City of Cameron use combined tax revenues in the amount of $350,000 per year to provide a subsidy to our ground ambulance provider, AMR.”
In addition the county pays PHI, our air ambulance provider an additional $60,000 per year. In return, AMR provides three ambulances that operate 24 hours per day, 7 days a week and PHI provides free air ambulance service.
The ESD would provide a more equitable manner of paying for these services, as every property owner would pay a small tax, instead of those within the city limits of Rockdale, Cameron and the County. If the ESD is created, Rockdale, Cameron and the county would no longer pay a subsidy. Further, the ESD could raise enough revenue to provide another ambulance.
The tax rate is capped at ten cents per one hundred dollars of property and is decided by the voters.
Commissioners also approved the agreement with AMR to operate the quick response vehicle that was donated to the county.
The Court moved to amend their agreement with AMR ambulance services to now include the use of a Quick Response Vehicle. The QRV was purchased through a donation and is owned by the county. It will provide a quick response to calls when an ambulance is not available. As part of the newly amended contract, AMR will equip, maintain, insure, and staff the QRV.
The QRV will be used in a number of ways to provide emergency medical services to those when an ambulance is not available. The first year of operation will cost about $180,000, which will be paid for with donations from various solar farms in the county and Texas Country Title.
In other business the commissioners also: approved a bid to replace windows at the Milam County Annex at a cost of nearly $60,000; approved a bid for a Freightliner truck for Precinct 1; approved a bid for hauling services for all precincts with D&L Baker Trucking; elected to send out for bids on a vent hood at the Annex one more time; approved the sale of an end dump through Kennedy Auctions; approved their 2021 Fiscal Audit and approved a contract with Singleton and Clark for audit services, though the price has increased for the coming year from $48,000 to $69,000; approved a road use agreement for Cattlemen Solar II; approved the resignations of Sidney Youngblood and Dana McLaren from the Post Oak Savannah Groundwater Conservation District Board and elected to place ads seeking applicants to fill those positions; and approved the donation from Milam County Sheriff Mike Clore of certain heavy equipment and other items for the county’s use.