The first was regarding a message from the City of Siloam Springs that indicates it will cut off ambulance service to rural Benton County if the County does not pay the requested budget for that service for the whole year.
My earlier post describes the overall issue. The bottom line is the defeat of the $85 annual fee by rural residents during the February 11 special election will result in uncertainty about the future of ambulance service in unincorporated Benton County. In the unincorporated areas around Siloam Springs it appears that service could be disrupted or ended.
I completely understand that rural county residents are upset about this. I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment that we already pay too much in taxes and fees to the various levels of government. Unfortunately this is a unique circumstance that has been building for years and one way or another ambulance service is going to have to be paid for with either a fee, cutting other county services or by raising taxes in some other way (which I am opposed to all of the options I've seen to date).
The worst outcome is ending ambulance service to some parts of Benton County.
The other story had the lead, "Benton County's courts building project is moving forward."
That's not exactly the case.
A study has been completed and three options for a new courts facility have been identified -- each around $50 million. However no decision has been made to proceed with any of these options. Additionally pursuing any of these options will almost certainly mean going to the voters to approve some sort of tax increase -- something I believe would have a very difficult chance of passing.
What we (Benton County and the Quorum Court) still need to do is explore scaled back options at much lower cost that don't need a tax increase for funding. That work should begin this year.
So, a courts building is not moving forward at this point. We've simply accumulated more information from a study and now additional work and investigation is required to determine our next steps.
As always, please feel free to let me know your thoughts.
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