International Falls council says ambulance service under review as residents press concerns about dispatch and costs

International Falls city leaders and residents spent substantial time Thursday discussing the future of the city’s ambulance service and its cost to taxpayers. Public commenters urged the council to review how emergency dispatching is organized and to address what they described as rising debt tied in part to ambulance operations.

At a public-comment period, Tyler Weir, who identified himself as a correctional officer and 9-1-1 dispatcher but said he spoke as a taxpayer, said the current setup creates duplication: “In a medical crisis, every second matters. So what I would like to know is why is the city paying for an additional dispatch when the county does it already?” He also said the city is “$2,000,000 in the hole” and criticized recent wage increases and the city administrator’s pay as outsize for a city of International Falls’ population.

Resident Bill Valentine reiterated concerns about dispatching redundancy and asked council members directly why 9-1-1 calls to the county are then relayed to a separate city dispatcher.

Council members said the issue is already on the agenda in budget work and committee meetings. The mayor told residents the matter is “on the front burner,” noting recent county discussion of an ambulance taxing district. “The county last week…two members of the Couchiching County Board met with the Rainier City Council…they are proposing a taxing district in which the City of Rainier would have to, I believe, by resolution or ordinance, opt into,” the mayor said, and encouraged anyone interested to view that meeting on the KCC TV YouTube channel.

Chief Manasseh (ambulance/fire) provided staffing context during the meeting, telling the council that the service’s staffing declined from six paramedics to four and that coverage decisions and transfer volume affect finances. The mayor also described ongoing billing and collections work, saying the city now uses a billing service (“hometown billing”) that takes a percentage of what it collects.

Councilors and the mayor described past efforts to address ambulance funding, including a multi-year committee prior to the COVID-19 pandemic that explored a taxing district with the county but did not reach a lasting solution. The council said it continues to examine options, and city leaders signaled that budget choices this fall could lead to substantive changes to ambulance operations or funding.

No formal action altering ambulance operations or funding was taken at Thursday’s meeting. The council did schedule a special meeting for Sept. 22 to set preliminary budget and levy figures and to hold other time-sensitive business; councilors said ambulance funding is being discussed in ongoing budget work leading into that meeting.

Public comment also raised two operational points the council discussed: whether the county’s public-safety answering point (PSAP) procedure — taking the initial call then transferring it to the agency of jurisdiction — creates delay, and whether the city had missed ambulance bill collections in prior years. Councilors acknowledged a past billing problem was discussed and said collection practices vary across providers.

The council asked staff to continue work in committee and budget sessions; no motion to change dispatch responsibilities or to adopt a taxing district was recorded at the meeting.