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Don Gronning
Biggest fire district doesn’t see benefit
NEWPORT – While the other fire districts in the county seem to support forming an Emergency Medical Services district to support ambulance services, South Pend Oreille Fire and Rescue will not support an EMS taxing district. SPOFR is by far the largest fire district in the county, with more than $1.12 billion assessed real estate value within the district.
Fire districts, the hospital, Newport and Pend Oreille County met Wednesday, Feb. 4 to discuss the situation.
SPOFR, located in the south part of the county, has one of the two Advanced Life Support licenses the state allows in the county. Fire District 2 in the north end of the county has the other.
The problem Pend Oreille County Commissioners have been wrestling with since the latest private ambulance service went out of business in 2023 is finding a way of providing supplemental funding for ambulance services. Many of the ambulance transports in the county are Medicaid and Medicare funded, which pay a fraction of the actual cost of the transport. That simply is not enough to pay for ALS, which requires a paramedic in the ambulance.
“We know in the south end of the county, Medicare, Medicaid numbers are about 67% of the users,” Erik Gallegher said. Gallegher represents Pend Oreille County on the East Region EMS & Trauma Care Council. “Medicaid is $182, full stop.” It is a little lower in the north end of the county.
The need for an EMS district, supporters say, is because reimbursement rates for ambulance services aren’t enough to support a private service. Three private services have come and gone in Pend Oreille County since 2016.
County commissioners have been considering forming an EMS district since 2016, after Newport Ambulance closed. They have yet to try to form an EMS district, although they have written a couple of 13-page bylaws, according to documents distributed the week before Wednesday’s meeting.
SPOFR has maintained that its voters, which is about half the voting population in the county, will not go for additional tax since they approved a levy lid lift in August 2023 to $1.25 per $1,000 assessed valuations, up from 75 cents per $1,000. Because SPOFR has merged with several districts, some of the annexed districts saw their rates go from 45 cents per $1,000 to $1.25, according to a letter from SPOFR commissioners about a year ago.
“The only way an EMS district truly makes money is by becoming a taxing district, which we’re not for,” SPOFR Fire Chief Shane Stocking said at the meeting. He said SPOFR voters represent two thirds of the county’s taxing base. He said its board was not in favor of forming an EMS district in which it could not control taxing.
Fire District 4 Chief Robert Webber said his district did support a county EMS district, regardless of what it looks like. He said there is one question that has to be answered — “Who is in?” he asked.
John Gentle, the county commissioner from the south part of the county, said after a moment that the answer is it depends. He said he recognized the need to tax to pay for county services.
“Why wouldn’t this be a taxing district?” he asked. Gentle said of all the things people are going to pay a tax for this would be one of the top priorities people would agree with. “Life-saving services would be an easy one for our working professionals to sell,” he said.
Fire District 2 Chief Chris Haynes said Fire District 2 represented the rural third of the county. He said reimbursement from insurance companies were likely to go down.
“If the insurance companies do what I suspect they’re going to inevitably do, yes, it’s going to have to fall back on a tax, because if it’s not, you’re not going to have services,” Haynes said. He said some of the COVID money went to buy ambulances. He said if another emergency like COVID happened, the government would likely provide funding. He said he would like to have an EMS district to receive some of that money.
He said Fire District 2 now gets about $478,000 a year in taxes, up from about $154,000. He said the district had 33 employees, 18 full-time. He said that was not sustainable.
Webber said that he’s had to cut $70,000 from the Fire District 4 budget. The district mothballed two of its four Basic Life Support ambulances after its voters twice failed to pass an EMS levy last year. The EMS levy needed two-thirds of voters to support it. It got 54% in August and nearly 59% in November. Fire District 4 was seeking property taxes of 50 cents or less per $1,000 valuation.
Webber said because of the cuts, it takes up to an hour to provide ambulance service. “That’s the reality,” he said.
Abby Gribi, city administrator for Newport, said she had not heard the specific advantages of forming an EMS district. She said without having specifics, the Newport City Council was not in favor of forming an EMS district. Newport contracts with SPOFR for fire services and is also served by ambulance service from SPOFR. SPOFR houses a fire engine in Newport. Newport’s fire department was discontinued because of a lack of volunteers. Newport passed a fire levy last year for the first time.
County commissioner Robert Rosencrantz, who has been heading up the talks on the EMS district, said all three county commissioners were dedicated to critical infrastructure.
“There is no more critical infrastructure than that which serves to keep people alive and healthy,” Rosencrantz said.
County commissioner Brian Smiley asked if an EMS district board could be formed with proportionate representation.
That would mean districts that have more money would have more votes, Haynes said, and he didn’t like that.
“Don’t look at it as more money, look at it as more population,” Stocking said.
SPOFR board of commissioners vice chair Ed Funkhouser said he had not heard why a county wide EMS District should be formed.
“I still haven’t heard why we need a county- wide EMS district,” Funkhouser said toward the end of meeting.
Earlier in the meeting, Gentle said that support from Olympia is not on the table without the county having an EMS district. Pend Oreille County is one of three counties in the state without an EMS district.
“The first question is, is do you have an EMS district?” Gentle said. Gentle said the sentiment among legislators is that if the county is not trying to take care of ambulance needs itself by supporting it with an EMS district, it is not a high priority for legislators to help out.
On Tuesday, Gentle said an EMS district without SPOFR’s participation would be difficult.
The next step is for the Municipal Research Service Center to field questions from the public and provide answers. Questions can be sent to Crystal Zieske, Clerk of the Board/Office Manager for the county commissioners at: Pend Oreille County Commissioners PO Box 5025 625 W. 4th St. Newport, WA 99156 She can also be emailed at czieske@pendoreille. org.
