Finally we are getting another chance to pass an EMS levy — after the attempt made in 2016 was supported by a majority of the voters but fell just short of the 60% the state requires for a levy.
57.3% of us voted to pay the 4.6% levy in 2016. The cost for the average Hampshire County property owner was estimated to be $36.34 a year.
The levy failed to pass, if by only a few points, and two years later taxpayers were hit with a $100 ambulance fee.
This $100 fee we were paying went up to $175 in July, an increase voted by the county commission after our county ambulance services ran short of money last year. Current staffing problems in Springfield suggest $175 is already insufficient and the fee we pay will be going up again.
That’s the problem with fees. It’s not just that they take more money from most taxpayers, but also that the income remains the same, year after year, while costs continue to rise. Soon the income they generate fails to meet needs, and the county commission must raise the fee again.
Levies are a little more flexible, with the amounts collected tending to rise as property values rise.
We might well ask why fees should be considered in the first place for supporting ambulance services, other than because the county commission can impose them without public support, which makes imposing fees easier for them.
Is there anything special about ambulance services that makes fee support a better choice? We don’t use fees to support other county services like highway maintenance or law enforcement or salaries for courthouse staff.
And fees are really expensive for a lot of taxpayers. They hit the county’s poorest families, who really don’t have the money, hardest, but they’re not the only taxpayers unduly burdened by ambulance fees.
At the Aug. 18, Hampshire County Commission meeting, Commissioner Logan Mantz estimated 93% of Hampshire County taxpayers — everyone with homes assessed at less than $307,000 — are paying more in ambulance fees than they would be charged under a levy.
State law in West Virginia requires that our homes be assessed at 60% of their fair market value — and $307,000 is 60% of $511,657. So if the fair market value of your house is less than $511,657, Commissioner Mantz is saying he estimates the ambulance fee you’re asked to pay is higher than what you would pay under the proposed levy.
Who benefits from using fees for funding? The 7% of county taxpayers with homes assessed at over $307,000, the people at the top, who get to pay just the same flat rate as taxpayers who are struggling financially. Owners of undeveloped or commercial properties also benefit, since ambulance fees are paid only by households, unlike the other county services for which they must pay their share. .
Since levies apply to all properties that pay property taxes, they spread the expense across all the county’s taxable properties. Including payments from them in support for ambulance services should also help to some extent in keeping the cost for individual taxpayers down.
We have to find a way to give better support to our ambulance services, and the ambulance fee has fallen short over and over again.
We now have a choice, deciding how best to provide for them - levy or fee? Which is better for the county’s taxpayers, and to provide adequate funding for the ambulance service?
I know which one I’d vote for. ❏