Consultants find consolidation of Livingston and Park County rural fire services operationally and financially feasible; commission receives study

Livingston City Commission received a feasibility study Dec. 17 examining consolidation of the city’s paid fire and EMS services with Park County Rural Fire District No. 1 and voted to place the study on the city record.

The report by Fitch & Associates, summarized at the meeting by consultant Ian Womack, concluded a consolidated system would be operationally feasible and, under the study’s assumptions, financially sustainable if the rural district extended its mill levy into the city. The consultants recommended adopting a differentiated response standard (an eight‑minute travel standard for urban areas and an 18‑minute standard for rural areas), changes to shift schedules to reduce overtime costs, and improved EMS billing and data collection.

Why it matters: The city provides countywide ALS and ambulance transport and relies on EMS revenue for a large portion of fire department funding. A consolidation that shifts fire and EMS governance to the rural district would move funding out of the city general fund and into ad valorem taxes collected by the district; that could free roughly $1.2 million in city general fund dollars under the study’s financial scenario, and would change which elected body…