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Nottoway supervisors weigh emergency-services bailout, consider dedicated EMS/fire levy
Summary
After learning the county's volunteer-based emergency squad reported a large operating shortfall, supervisors discussed options that include county payroll assistance, buying squad assets, and proposing a dedicated fire/EMS tax levy to stabilize services. Officials also approved short-term use of timber proceeds to front grant-eligible expenditures.
Nottoway County supervisors spent the longest portion of their meeting on an emergency-services funding crisis after the county's volunteer squad reported a large operating deficit and difficulty maintaining staffed ambulances. Supervisors discussed three main options: a county payroll contribution to sustain paychecks, moving squad employees onto county payroll (with county benefits), or purchasing squad property and rolling services into a county-run department. Supervisor comment framed the choice bluntly: "We don't have a choice," one board member said, urging that the county act to ensure 911 calls continue to be answered.
Emergency-services director Buddy Hyde and sheriff's-office staff briefed the board on recent work to improve training and protocols; Hyde noted the county had just adopted its own EMS protocols, adding that the change helps local control of clinical standards. Hyde told the board, "Nottoway County is one of the few counties in Southside Virginia, and actually the Commonwealth, to pass their own EMS protocols," and said the county is pursuing training partnerships that could produce more local recruits over several years. Board members pressed for short-term cash to prevent service collapse and discussed creating legally protected funding channels; one supervisor asked citizens to contact their supervisors with ideas and urged donations while longer-term structures are developed.
The board agreed to an immediate administrative step to create a grant fund and appropriate unbudgeted timber proceeds as seed money while staff pursues grant reimbursements. County staff explained an Office of EMS grant could reimburse much of the planned dispatch and emergency-medical-dispatch (EMD) purchases but that the county will likely need to pay invoices up front. The board approved creating a grant fund seeded with recent timber revenue so purchases and consultant contracts can proceed ahead of expected reimbursements.
