West Siloam mayor eyes tax increase
Posted on Sunday, May 18, 2008
Elaine Carr, mayor of West Siloam Springs, Okla., is confident that a way to pay Siloam Springs for its ambulance and fire service in Oklahoma will be established before the cut off date.
A property tax increase would be the likely remedy to the issue, Carr said.
She said the maximum tax increase would be three mills, but she's uncertain how much the increase would be. One mill is 1 / 1000 of a dollar.
The tax increase would require voters' approval.
"We're going to try to have it on the November ballot," Carr said.
Siloam Springs officials said emergency units will stop responding to Oklahoma calls for service if the neighboring state does not facilitate funding for them by the end of 2008.
The city spends $ 464, 000 annually on average to pay for these calls into Oklahoma, City Administrator David Cameron said.
"The city of Siloam Springs can no longer continue to absorb the cost to provide this service," he said.
The city board decided that Dec. 31 would be the last day the city's fire trucks and ambulances would respond to these calls if a funding source is not approved.
Ambulances are requested for 90 percent of the calls into Oklahoma, Cameron said. Fire trucks are needed for the remaining number.
Property owners are currently not billed for calls for fire trucks, and patients who are transported in ambulances are billed for the trip.
"A low percentage of the invoices charged to Oklahomans are actually paid," Cameron said. "What funds we do receive generally come from insurance companies or Medicare reimbursements."
Each ambulance trip into Oklahoma costs the city $ 1, 438 per call on average, he said.
Ambulances made 432 trips into Oklahoma in 2007. They transported 307 patients to the hospital.
"The remaining 125 non-transport calls were paid for entirely by Siloam Springs citizens," Cameron said. "These 125 calls alone cost the citizens of Siloam Springs $ 179, 750."
Medicare reimburses all emergency medical service agencies up to $ 240 for ambulance calls, Cameron said. Often, the city receives only a portion of this.
"While we make every effort through the courts to get payment, often we are unsuccessful and Siloam Springs residents foot the bill," Cameron said.
The argument that Oklahomans help pay for EMS and fire calls by shopping in Siloam Springs is untrue, Cameron said.
"Siloam Springs' sales taxes support our streets, our new wastewater treatment plant and other city infrastructure," he said. "These monies cannot legally go toward paying for the operation and maintenance of any other department within the city."
The city uses the money from electricity sales to fund the fire department, which runs the ambulance service.
"Therefore, your electric bill pays for EMS service to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Cameron said.
A public meeting for area Oklahoma residents and town and county officials has yet to be set on this issue, Carr said.
Area district commissioners of Adair and Delaware counties could not be reached for comment before presstime.
The issue of funding Siloam Springs for its EMS and fire service into Oklahoma has been discussed for about 15 years, Cameron said.
Mutual aid agreements with Oklahoma volunteer fire departments in Adair and Delaware counties were established in 1991, Cameron said.
This led to the city's responding to 911 calls for service in Oklahoma.
Siloam Springs Fire Department responds to calls in Oklahoma as far south as Chewey, west to Flint Creek and north to Colcord. The nearest Oklahoma ambulance service offered in the area Siloam Springs serves is in Oaks.
Carr said the small Oklahoma towns couldn't afford to set up their own ambulance service.
She said she doesn't expect the towns to have to rely on EMS services from Oaks or Jay, Okla., because the issue should be resolved before Siloam Springs' service is cut.
The most recent round of discussions on the issue started in June 2007.
"After six meetings with numerous Oklahoma officials and little progress toward developing a funding method, we opted to send notice to the state of Oklahoma that the city of Siloam Springs was going to discontinue fire and EMS service to Oklahoma on Dec. 31, 2008, if a funding source was not established," Cameron said.
Another issue related to the funding issue is the legality of sending ambulances and fire trucks into Oklahoma without liability coverage.
The city has certain levels of immunity from liability in Arkansas, Cameron said.
Recently, the city was sued for a liability case in Oklahoma.
"Because there are no liability provision, the citizens of Siloam Springs paid the legal fees for our successful defense," Cameron said. "In the future, similar suits could result in Siloam Springs residents being forced to pay penalties."
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