(Harlan) Shelby County Emergency Management Agency Coordinator Alex Londo updated the Harlan City Council Tuesday night on EMS and Essential Services.
Londo said they are going around talking to City Councils and Fire Departments and closer to November they will start doing some Town Halls to get information out about what the Advisory Council is and what their plan is to make EMS a success.
Iowa passed a code section that allows counties to designate EMS as an essential service, which means they can start receiving tax money. Londo said once the contracted service they have now retires, they are looking to tax for EMS and develop a countywide system.
Londo said they formed an EMS Advisory Council and they evaluated what it would take to make EMS successful in the county and suggested a levy rate to the Board of Supervisors at 75-cents per thousand dollars of property tax and a one-percent income surtax. He said any of that money, along with any billing revenue that comes from EMS, will be used to fund the countywide system.
