Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Ems Capacity topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Edgefield County officials outline EMS staffing, housing and funding shortfalls
Summary
County staff told the Edgefield County Planning Commission on Jan. 9 that Edgefield needs a fourth ambulance crew, housing for crews and additional capital to expand EMS, but operating funding is limited and impact fees cannot be used for ongoing operations.
At its Jan. 9 work session, staff told the Edgefield County Planning Commission that Edgefield County needs a fourth ambulance crew and new facilities but lacks a sustainable source of operating funds and permanent housing for staff.
County staff said the EMS millage that once generated a surplus has been drawn down after raises and added services. “When the EMS millage was separated, 16 years ago or so, it was set large enough that it created a surplus … That has slowly dwindled that surplus away until now it's gone,” Staff member (County staff) said.
Staff explained the distinction between capital and operating funds: impact fees and many other local funding tools can pay for capital items but cannot be used to cover day-to-day operations or salaries. “Appropriations, impact fees, user fees, all those sorts of things, yeah, we can use them to pay for capital improvements but not operations,” Staff member (County staff) said.
Staff outlined immediate infrastructure needs: additional ambulances (cited as an example at about $350,000 each with an expected useful life: “We can finance the ambulance now and use the money collected as the payment… the life of that ambulance is 5 years,” Staff member (County staff) said), a new main station on the Highway 25 corridor to improve response times, and short-term options such as renovating an available building in Trenton as a temporary housing/standby location. The Trenton site would require renovations and would not include an enclosed garage for ambulances, staff said.
Staff also raised operational challenges beyond local funding: hospital diversions and ER delays can leave county ambulances tied up in Augusta for hours, reducing local coverage; staffing costs are a major component of the county budget, and shortages in staff or inspections capacity would complicate any rapid large-scale development.
Possible funding options discussed included returning to the millage, deploying sales-tax proceeds, applying for grants, or reallocating general-fund dollars; staff warned that using capital-only tools would not solve long-term operating shortfalls. No formal decisions or votes were taken at the commission meeting.
