NASHWAUK — The long-standing challenge of funding ambulance services for eastern Itasca County may finally have a solution.
The Itasca County Board approved the creation of a subordinate service district to offer emergency medical services at its meeting Tuesday, Feb. 25.
The district covers Nashwauk Ambulance’s licensed service area, which follows most of the county’s eastern border, north from Bearville Township and south to Goodland. The district also includes parts of Taconite and Balsam Township and Marble, Calumet and Keewatin.
The service district allows the county to fund EMS through service charges and a new property tax levy within the district beginning next year.
The city of Nashwauk has owned and operated an ambulance service since the early 2000s. But the city has been operating at a loss and has been trying to find another someone to take over the service area for the last few years.
April Kurtock, Nashwauk city administrator-clerk-treasurer, told the Board the challenges they’ve faced are no different than other rural ambulance services.
“We have staffing shortages, expensive equipment replacement costs, Medicare’s dismal reimbursement rates and growing deficits,” she said.
The city still prioritizes having an ambulance service in Nashwauk, Kurtock said, but now it will just look a little different.
Cass and Hubbard made a similar move last month to take over the Walker Ambulance’s service area, though utilizing a different kind of taxing district.
Funding the service district
The ambulance service will still bill patients and be reimbursed, just like any other. But instead of eating the deficit like Nashwauk has been, the county will use the property tax levy to make up the difference, said Eric Villeneuve, Itasca County health and human services director.
The county is estimating an initial levy of $650,000, which would mean about an extra $100 a year in property taxes for a $250,000 house.
That estimate takes into account that Nashwauk has been losing about $200,000 a year.
“So that’s your starting point,” Villeneuve said.
Nashwauk’s ambulance is also at the end of its usable life, so another $250,000 would cover the cost of a new one. The rest of the estimate is the cost of staffing, new equipment and other expenses that come with EMS.
“We’d have to get someone to bid to come in and provide those services,” Villeneuve explained. “So, every year they would be setting what they need as what you’re going to levy. So, they would become part of our budgeting process.”
The levy must be certified by the end of June.
What exactly is a subordinate service district?
State law allows counties, excluding the seven-county metro and St. Louis County, to establish subordinate service districts to pay for providing services to a portion of the county.
There is no comprehensive list of districts, but a 2024 Minnesota House Research paper says they’ve been used to cover the cost of paving roads, providing community sewage treatment systems in new developments and providing ambulance services.
Only those benefiting from the service can be levied for it, so they cover the cost, rather than spreading it across the entire county.
Subordinate service districts created by county boards are subject to reverse referendums, meaning if 5% of registered voters in the district petition for a referendum, the county must have a special election, and a majority of voters would need to vote yes.
There are about 5,085 qualified voters in the district, according to Itasca County Auditor-Treasurer Austin Rohling, so just over 250 would need to petition.
A special election is needed to discontinue a district.
Feedback
Four of the nine townships – Goodland, Lawrence, Nashwauk and Balsam -- in the Nashwauk Ambulance service area submitted resolutions of support to the county, as did the cities of Nashwauk and Keewatin.
No one spoke in opposition to the service district at the Board meeting.
Michael Troumbly, Taconite city clerk, submitted a comment stating Taconite is not for being included in the service district. However, the city’s objections were based on the idea that the county would bill the city for the cost of providing service and that the entire city would charged, despite only about 30% of Taconite being within the Nashwauk service area.
Only the property within the service area and thus the subordinate service district would be levied.
Nashwauk City Councilors Terry Sullivan and Councilor Sheila Jensen both spoke in support of the move.
“The citizens and taxpayers of Nashwauk shouldn’t have to pay for the service that is utilized by this vast geographical area,” Jensen said. “And I’m just glad that this solution came to our attention so that we could start to pursue this process. I think it is the most fair.”
- Phenology Report: Breaking bud
- Chastity Brown brings music, meaning and community to Bemidji
- After 2+ weeks in a coma and near-fatal injuries, this young woman is a survivor
- Heintzeman earns 60%, but margin narrows compared to recent elections
- What's for Breakfast: Mushroom coffee with a side of Riverfest
