Committee debates EMS funding mix; staff recommends eliminating county admin fee

Committee members spent significant time scrutinizing funding options for a countywide EMS model, including whether to use growth in county sales tax, an EMS levy component, or other revenue sources. County staff explained how the commonly cited $3.5 million baseline is derived (municipal levy data, an assumption that 75% of the fire/EMS levy is EMS-related, and a county-share assumption that produces roughly $2.7 million in county base funding).

The meeting also examined an administrative charge in the draft model: "the current working proposal that you have before you has the county administration fee of 10% of the full 3.5" (about $273,000 capped at $300,000). Staff and the county executive's office recommended eliminating that administrative fee so a larger share of funds would go directly to departments and municipalities. Several supervisors said they preferred a funding approach that preserves accountability and restricts funds to EMS uses; staff cautioned that disbursing sales-tax growth directly to municipalities provides less statutory restriction than an explicit EMS levy and therefore is harder to guarantee for EMS-only use.

Staff agreed to return with multiple funding scenarios that illustrate the tax-rate impact of alternative mixes (e.g., keeping $3.5M baseline vs. lowering to $2.4M or 2.9M and accounting for volunteer-retention funding). Committee members asked that staff show scenarios that aim for tax-rate neutrality as one option.