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Fulton County fiscal court votes to initiate ambulance taxing district to shore up EMS funding
Summary
Fulton County fiscal court voted to begin formation of a countywide ambulance taxing district and approved a plan of service to start the statutory process; members were told the tax could equal about a 6% increase on a typical tax bill and revenue would not appear in tax rolls until late 2027.
Fulton County fiscal court voted to initiate the statutory process to form a countywide ambulance taxing district and approved a draft plan of service, a step officials said is intended to stabilize emergency medical services funding.
Speaker 4, who introduced the proposal, said the taxing option would use an ad valorem levy (described as "10¢ on a hundred dollar value") combined with an existing private membership model so current members would receive a credit. "If we do this thing and get it going by, 2026, I think I think, I think we can survive," Speaker 4 said during deliberations.
Court members were told the tax would increase a typical county tax bill by roughly 6 percent, and the speaker estimated a revenue floor of about $446,000 while noting the total funding gap for ambulance operations is nearer $1 million. "Overall, it's about a 6% increase on a normal tax bill," the speaker said when explaining how the levy would appear on property tax bills.
Staff and legal counsel briefed the court on statutory requirements under the process, including preparing a plan of service with demographic data, a three-year cost projection, and justification for forming the district. Speaker 6 cited the statutory framework by number, advising members those items must be included in the plan of service before a public hearing is scheduled.
Members discussed implementation details and data limits: county staff had matched about 75 percent of property records to current ambulance-service members and said additional staff work would be required to finalize the roll and billing allocations. The court recorded the practical timeline that, even if the process begins in 2025, tax proceeds would not appear on bills until the 2026 tax year and the county would not receive revenue until October 2027.
A motion to create the taxing district and approve the plan of service was made and seconded; the court recorded four affirmative votes and instructed the fiscal court clerk to schedule the required public hearing within the statutory window (no earlier than 30 days nor later than 90 days after publishing required notice).
The court’s action initiates a multi-step statutory process that includes public notice, a hearing, and formal ordinance adoption; the taxing district board’s composition and governance were discussed as items to be addressed during the plan and public process. The court declined to set tax-rate caps in the initial motion, with members noting the district would be similar in structure to other local taxing districts (library, health department) and would transfer collected revenues to the district’s contracted ambulance provider.
Next steps: clerk will schedule the statutorily required public hearing and staff will continue matching property rolls to member lists and complete the plan-of-service documents for public review and comment.
