The Lisbon-Mount Vernon Ambulance Service ambulance sits outside the facility’s base at 730 First St. E in Mount Vernon.
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MOUNT VERNON — In less than a month, residents within the proposed Lisbon-Mount Vernon EMS district will vote on whether to raise property taxes to support rural emergency response.
The matter is expected to appear Sept. 1 on a special single-issue ballot, pending final approval of that date from the Linn County Board of Supervisors at an upcoming meeting. Per Iowa code, the measure will need at least 60% approval to pass.
Proposed district boundaries include the cities of Mount Vernon and Lisbon; the swath of unincorporated Linn County covering Bertram, Franklin, Linn and Putnam townships; and Cedar Township in rural Johnson County.
“The is really about public engagement on how best our communities can serve EMS needs, especially in rural areas,” Linn County Supervisor Kirsten Running-Marquardt said at a Monday meeting where the board unanimously approved the district’s preliminary plat.
If approved, the EMS district would generate funds for the existing Lisbon-Mount Vernon Ambulance Service through a new tax levy estimated at 66.7 cents per $1,000 of assessed value on all taxable property within the district, not including agricultural land.
For a resident with a $200,000 home, that would equate to a roughly $64 increase in annual property tax payments.
Lisbon-Mount Vernon Ambulance Service director Jacob Lindauer said those funds would be used to hire at least three additional full-time staff members to ensure consistent paramedic staffing and improve local response time.
Members of the Lisbon-Mount Vernon Ambulance Service test their sills during a April 2024 training. The service is made up of mostly volunteer members and provides service in and around southeast Linn County.
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The goal isn’t to replace volunteers, he stressed, but rather add more flexibility given ongoing increases in the ambulance service’s annual call volume. In 2017, for example, the ambulance service responded to 452 calls; this year, it’s on track to hit nearly 1,000.
“The biggest challenge for our volunteers is that it’s gone from ‘Will I get a call today’ to ‘When is the call coming in and how many,’” said Lindauer, the service’s only paid staff member. “Our hope is that by bringing on some career staff, we can (lessen) that burden.”
The ambulance service presently serves a population of more than 8,000 people over 150 square miles in and around southeast Linn County. Lindauer is the only paid staff member among a larger crew of 39 volunteers.
The agency currently gets the majority of its operating funds from insurance reimbursements with a small portion coming directly from the two cities within its service area. Any major capital investments are dependent upon donations or grant funding.
It receives some direct support from both Jones and Cedar counties for services provided in small corners of those counties, both of which have a countywide EMS tax to split among supporting agencies. Those areas fall within the agency’s service area but are not part of the proposed tax district.
Lindauer said the district designation being sought in September for relevant portions of Linn and Johnson counties will provide a similar revenue source to help cover operations and offset stagnating insurance reimbursement rates as demand for service grows.
“Medicaid is only reimbursing about 13% of our (actual) costs, and Medicare is only reimbursing 60%,” he said, adding that a majority of the ambulance service’s patients use one of those two programs. “That hits rural agencies hard.”
Because of jurisdictional boundaries, there will technically be four elections held on Sept. 1, one each for Mount Vernon and Lisbon, one for unincorporated Linn County and another for Johnson County.
Polling locations have not yet been announced for Linn County, as Linn County supervisors need to formally approve the Sept. 1 date. Mount Vernon and Lisbon have approved that date, but voting sites will be announced in tandem with those for rural Linn County.
Johnson County voters from Cedar Township can vote on the matter from noon to 8 p.m. on Sept. 1 at the Johnson County Conservation Sutliff Shop, 5438 Sutliff Road NE. For more information on early voting, visit the auditor’s office website.