Carroll County Quorum Court had another short meeting Monday evening, with two agenda items passing almost without comment, and public input on the proposed ambulance tax for eastern Carroll County providing the only discussion.
Former County Judge Richard Williams said he opposes the millage increase, which appears on the Nov. 8 ballot. That proposed increase would generate approximately $500,000 per year to fund ambulance service east of the Kings River.
The county owns the building and property at Mercy Hospital, and leases it to Mercy for a nominal $25 per year. Williams said that lease requires Mercy to deliver quality health care service. He said the lease also requires an annual report to the quorum court, although the county has not received any reports since 2007.
Williams said the hospital cleared more than $800,000 in profits in one recent year, and said the Mercy system makes even more from the local hospital because many patients are transferred from there to Mercy in Springfield, Mo.
Justice of the Peace Larry Swofford pointed out that the quorum court had not initiated the millage request. JPs passed the ordinance so voters could decide on a new tax. He also provided some history on the lease arrangement, pointing out that when the lease was signed, the county could have sold the building and property outright, and the county would have received an amount equal to $155 for each person in the county. “We felt like we needed a hospital more,” he said.
Leon Cheatham owns Ozark EMS, which has provided ambulance service in eastern Carroll County for a year and a half, since Mercy announced that heavy losses would require them to close their own ambulance service. He said his company would make a profit providing ambulance service whether the tax passes or not.
The two agenda items were approved unanimously. The county received $14,700 from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for providing law enforcement at Beaver Lake. That money was transferred to the budget of the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office. Also, Craig Froman was appointed to a five-year term on the Carroll County Library Board.
During JP comments, Lamont Richie advised other JPs that he would propose a change in procedures at the November meeting. Richie said other counties in Arkansas do not require reading ordinances in their entirety. He said state law only requires reading ordinances by title, although copies of those ordinances would have to be available for the public. The quorum court would still have the option of reading any ordinance in its entirety, but Richie reminded the other JPs that a budget ordinance will come to the table soon, and reading that ordinance aloud has been an annual challenge.