Rural providers, paramedics and county officials tell committee grants and staffing rules leave small ambulance services vulnerable

Local providers, paramedics and elected officials urged the Emergency Response Services Committee to dig deeper into how state grants are awarded, how local taxing districts are used to support ambulances, and whether existing benefit programs provide adequate protection to volunteers. Testimony spanned the state and included examples from Oaks, L'Amour, Carrington, Bowman, and McVille.

Common themes: witnesses said state assistance grants and the formula used to distribute them are difficult for small services to navigate, that administrative requirements sometimes disadvantage small volunteer services, and that large hospital-owned or private services sometimes receive aid while smaller volunteer services do not. Several speakers asked the state to standardize and simplify grant application processes and to improve communication when applications are incomplete.

Local funding and tax districts: multiple witnesses said forming an ambulance tax district and levying a mill rate…