Voters in Laurel are being asked in November’s general election to vote yes on a mill levy to fund their local ambulance service which the city’s EMS director says ensures residents will get an ambulance when they call 9-1-1.
For the last three years Laurel has used the general fund to support the city’s emergency medical services and the 5 full time employees staffing their ambulance.
As Laurel grows, the number of ambulance calls grows. Last year there were just over 1,200 requests for service for a coverage area of over 205 square miles.
Laurel Emergency Medical Services Director Lyndy Gurchiek says their staff works two-24 hour shifts. But that leaves about four days when they have only one provider staffing the ambulance. Sick days and vacation can create days when there is no one on staff. She says they do try to fill in those days with volunteers but they are not always available.
Last year 177 times Laurel EMS was unable to respond because of inadequate staffing. If Laurel is unable to respond their dispatchers will call around to other dispatch centers in Billings, Joliet, Columbus and Park City but they can be responding to their own systems and don’t have anyone to send to Laurel.
“So we want to fix that,” says Gurchiek. “ Our community deserves better. And again we’re getting busier and busier all the time. And we would like to have an ambulance 24/7 and to really guarantee that we need full time staff seven days a week.”
Currently the service is funded by less than 18 % of the general fund. Not enough to recruit, train and retain the necessary staff to guarantee there is ambulance service when a 911 call comes in.
To fill the gap the city is asking voters to support a mill levy of 50.06 mills just to fund the EMS staffing. That comes out to just over $67 a year for a $100,000 dollar home.
Gurchiek admits there are some homeowners not in favor.
“Any time we are trying to ask for money from people especially right now in hard times. It’s hard to say ’yes, we have the money to give or we want to do this’. And we completely understand that, Gurchiek says.
The November 7th election is an all mail election. Ballots are due in the Yellowstone County Election office by 8pm on the 7th
