Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Ems Fire Services topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Dunn County follows town-led EMS planning as ambulance costs and staffing rise
Summary
Town-led planning grant and a county-commissioned study aim to address rising ambulance costs and volunteer shortages; staff warned costs are outpacing state aid and some towns now spend a large share of levy on EMS.
County staff told supervisors they are tracking a town-led study into emergency medical services after township leaders sought help addressing rising ambulance costs and declining volunteer capacity.
The town of Elk Mound secured a state innovation planning grant to study countywide EMS options and contracted a consultant to analyze service models. Staff said that study is underway and that it aims to gather local run and cost data in coming weeks.
Presentations to county committees have shown ambulance calls far outnumber fire incidents and that staffing shortages are concentrated in volunteer EMS departments. Staff cited a statewide figure that about 41% of ambulance providers reported they were unable to staff 24/7/365 during the previous 12 months. County presenters said volunteer recruitment is declining and that replacing volunteers with paid professionals raises personnel costs sharply for small town budgets.
The town-level example presented by staff illustrated the fiscal pressure: Elk Mound’s ambulance expense rose from roughly $10,000 in 2006 to about $78,000 in 2024, moving from around 5% of the town’s levy to roughly 28% of its levy. Staff said the state aid increase that accompanied a maintenance-of-effort requirement did not fully cover that cost growth.
Staff outlined several county roles under discussion: acting as a convening body, helping fund or contract services countywide, or in some counties directly operating ambulance service. Staff also noted a key legal and fiscal dynamic: municipal levy limits apply to towns and villages but not to counties, so a county levy could be a vehicle to spread costs if towns chose to shift funding responsibility.
Staff said the county may receive specific recommendations from the Elk Mound study and that neighboring counties have pursued a mix of approaches, including countywide levies, county-operated services and county-contracted multi-provider models. Staff recommended supervisors follow the committee-level review and said any policy or funding changes would return for public deliberation and board action.
Ending: The county is monitoring the study and encouraged supervisors to follow Judiciary and Law and other committee agendas for updates; no county-level decisions were made at the workshop.
