Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Public hearing on Oct. 27
The general election on November 5 isn’t the only upcoming election for Eddy County residents.
That’s because efforts are currently underway to establish a new “rural ambulance service district” in the region, and soon local residents will be asked to vote on whether that district should have the authority to levy taxes.
During the 2023 legislative session in Bismarck, House Bill 1365 was passed and signed into law by Gov. Doug Burgum, requiring the creation of rural ambulance districts throughout the state.
The purpose of the legislation is to guarantee emergency services within a region.
Once created, the rural ambulance district would cover the same service area as the Community Ambulance Service of New Rockford (CASNR). A map of that service area is published on page 7. The new district would then contract with CASNR to serve as the region’s official emergency response service.
Essentially, there will now be a separate entity overseeing ambulance services for the region, rather than the ambulance service itself. This is similar to how rural fire districts currently operate.
If, for whatever reason, CASNR becomes incapable of serving the region in the future, the new rural ambulance district would be able to contract with a different ambulance service for the region, thereby ensuring that residents can still expect timely emergency response.
A public organizational meeting will be held on Sunday, Oct. 27 at 3 p.m. in the New Rockford ambulance hall.
At that meeting the new district will officially be established. Any residents living within the CASNR service area will be able to attend the meeting and elect board members to lead the new district.
Following the formation of the rural ambulance district a special election will be conducted, the exact date of which has not been decided, but must be announced no later than 63 days before the election takes place.
The question presented at the special election will propose that the newly-formed New Rockford EMS Tax District will have the authority to levy taxes, up to 15 mills.
If approved, the tax levied by the new district would replace the taxes currently levied by Eddy County for EMS services, beginning in 2025.
Voters would not be determining exactly how many mills the new district might levy – that determination would be made by the board based on their 2025 budget.
However, Angie Hopfauf, the current manager of CASNR, said she doesn’t expect they’ll need to increase taxes above their current mark.
Eddy County currently levies just 6.4 mills – or approximately $108,750 – for EMS services.
“The Community Ambulance Service of New Rockford has been very fortunate to stay well below the number of mills that could be levied due to the community volunteers,” said Hopfauf. “If CASNR didn’t have volunteers they would anticipate needing to use more mill levy funds to hire full time staff to maintain the ambulance.”
If voters approve the proposal, they’ll be giving the new ambulance service district the flexibility to adjust taxes to ensure the region retains an effective ambulance service.
