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Commissioners carve out funding to keep emergency management on track while debating ambulance timing
Summary
Court agreed to prioritize keeping the county's emergency management coordinator on track to become a fire marshal and discussed funding ambulances from fund balance, including possibly moving one ambulance purchase to FY27 to ease reserve pressure.
Commissioners signaled support for keeping the county's emergency management coordinator (EMC) on track to become a fire marshal, while wrestling with how to pay for ambulances and other one-time equipment. A commissioner proposed trimming indigent defense and other legal-related line items to free roughly $35,000 to $40,000 to preserve the EMC’s training and stipend pathway: “Trying to find $35,000 to keep my EMC on track to become a fire marshal,” the commissioner said.
Staff confirmed ambulances are included in the proposed budget using fund balance and identified one line as $890,000 for ambulance capital. Commissioners discussed financing options and timing — including the possibility of moving one ambulance purchase into FY27 to reduce the FY26 fund-balance draw — and asked staff to confirm payment timings and grant prospects. Staff also enumerated what would be covered for a fire marshal (training, software, PPE and stipend) and clarified earlier reductions when a stipend-load estimate was corrected.
