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County weighs countywide EMS levy after state expert outlines options
Summary
Richland County’s Executive & Finance Committee heard from a Wisconsin Office of Rural Health specialist on March 10 about using a countywide levy outside levy limits to sustain ambulance services. The committee asked staff for a funding model and study before deciding whether to proceed.
Richland County’s Executive & Finance Standing Committee spent the bulk of its March 10 meeting discussing whether to pursue a countywide property tax levy—outside the usual levy limits—to fund emergency medical services countywide.
James Small, outreach program manager with the Wisconsin Office of Rural Health, told the committee counties can impose a countywide levy for emergency medical services under Chapter 66 and that 14 Wisconsin counties currently use the exemption. Small described multiple implementation models counties have used, including county ownership of ambulance operations, county contracts with municipalities or health systems, and direct stipends or per-call reimbursements to local providers.
Small said the levy must be imposed countywide but how funds are allocated is up to the county board, and he cautioned that a statutory blank slate can make implementation complicated: some counties run county systems, others contract for services, and a few fund joint dispatch centers or portions of dispatch costs.
Supervisors pressed Small for practical examples and legal citations. He pointed to Chapter 66 as the relevant statutory authority and noted the levy-limit exemption for EMS—created by legislation enacted as part of the 2011 governor’s budget—has been used by a growing number of counties since then.
Committee members raised several practical issues: whether a levy would double-tax municipalities that already pay for local ambulance service; how to divide county-collected funds among municipal and volunteer providers; whether to contract with a third party or operate a county service; and the political timing needed to include a levy in the county budget. Several supervisors emphasized the need to negotiate reimbursement formulas (per-call, base stipend, or other metrics) and to secure municipal buy-in before moving forward.
The county administrator said the consultant study on countywide EMS will be ready for presentation at the committee’s March 30 meeting. Multiple supervisors asked staff to collect examples (Lafayette, Portage, Bayfield) of how other counties allocate funds so the county can compare formulas and prepare budget timelines. The administrator said a decision ideally would be made by late April or early May to allow timely budget planning ahead of the October budget approval.
Next steps: the committee requested the ambulance study report and sample allocation models be presented March 30 so members can weigh options and consider whether to place a levy before the budget cycle.
