Currently, Crittenden Health Systems funds and operates the county ambulance service. Emergency Medical Services are provided at basically no cost to county or city governments.

Larry Granstaff, director of the county EMS, says funding from the hospital is drying up and the county and city may need to help offset operational costs in the near future.

Granstaff and other ambulance service staff attended the Marion City Council meeting Monday night and the Crittenden County Fiscal Court meeting Tuesday morning. They presented brief testimony outlining ambulance service budget woes.

"The hospital can't foot the bill like it has in the past," Granstaff said during Monday's city council meeting.

"There is no fat to cut from EMS," he added. "We're running right on the edge.

"As director of the EMS, I felt like I needed to get this issue out into the public and let you know that the level of care could diminish if we don't get some help."

Granstaff pointed out that the ambulance service is losing about $3,300 a month. Last year, it answered 1,776 ambulance calls and lost $71,368 despite having revenues of $221,679. So far this fiscal year (which began in October), the EMS has lost $39,000.

"I don't think we're running on an inefficient basis as compared with other counties," hospital CFO Tommy Patey told the fiscal court. "It's getting continually harder to operate (in the black)."

The hospital has been making up the difference in the EMS budget deficiencies, but Granstaff says that source of money is drying up.

Granstaff says that ambulance services in surrounding counties are subsidized by local government. He presented information showing that different counties tackled the problem in varying ways. In Lyon County, he said there is a five-cent tax per $100 of assessment that pays for the ambulance service. Earlier this year, Livingston County instituted a controversial one-percent occupational tax to help fund the county's ambulance service.

Other counties pay out of their general funds, ranging from $27,000 in Caldwell to $175,000 in Marshall County, Granstaff said.

With four aging ambulances and a headquarters that is too small to house all of the vehicles and personnel, Granstaff is asking for about $115,000 to $125,000 to make ends meet.

"This fiscal court, I know, does not want to lose our ambulance service, but we cannot pay out $125,000," Crittenden County Judge-Executive Pippi Hardin said Tuesday. "We will work with them as much as possible, but to be honest what we can do is limited."

Hardin says he does not feel comfortable asking Crittenden Countians to pay additional taxes to help subsidize the ambulance service.

Granstaff said EMS needs a new ambulance at a cost of about $65,000 to $75,000; a building addition at a cost of $41,000 and equipment and other office materials estimated at $9,000.

"These are immediate needs," he said.

Granstaff also noted that the local pay scale for EMS staff is generally lower than in surrounding counties, making it difficult to hire and retain qualified employees.

"It looks like we're going to need your help soon," the ambulance director told the city council and the fiscal court.

Members of the fiscal court questioned the role of Crittenden Health Systems in operating and funding the ambulance.

"I would hate to think that the hospital has any (amount of money) in reserve that it wouldn't use to keep us from losing our ambulance service," Hardin said Tuesday.

CHS Vice President of Patient Care Services Marie Burkhart countered by saying, "Some things we operate lose money, but we have been willing to do that because we care about the community. We are going to do all we can to keep it, but we've beared the burden for many years."

However, Magistrate Roger Simpson said the revenue loss was just a part of doing business.

"That's like complaining about a wrecker service losing money when the service station that operates the wrecker is doing well as a whole," he said. "It's just part of it."