By Ben Singson
Jacksonville Journal-Courier
WINCHESTER, Ill. 鈥� Part of Scott County will now be able to receive ambulance service from Winchester EMS.
Scott County Board of Commissioners struck a deal with the emergency service to begin providing ambulance service to Special Service Area No. 1. The deal, which went into effect this week, was unanimously agreed upon at the board鈥檚 Monday meeting.
Special Service Area No. 1 is located in the southeastern corner of Scott County and encompasses Winchester, Manchester, Alsey and Glasgow. Board Chair Robert Schafer said the county collected a portion of property taxes from the area and put it into a separate account for the emergency service.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just another one of the rates that is on the tax bills in the county,鈥� he said.
The county had established a rate for the area last year and had already collected money for the account, Schafer said. The agreement means that Winchester EMS will now be able to receive that funding; Schafer said that the service had already collected a quarterly check this week.
Schafer said that the deal had been in the works for three or four years. Winchester EMS had approached the county about setting up a special service area to help get some extra revenue so it could hire more people, as many emergency services had trouble filling their ranks, he said.
鈥淚n order to have a service, you鈥檝e got to have some people that鈥檚 willing to do that job and do that work,鈥� Schafer said.
Schafer said that commissioners were glad to close the deal and hoped the service would be 鈥渁 good situation for the people that live in that area.鈥�
鈥淗opefully, you never need the service,鈥� he said, 鈥渂ut if you do need it, you want to make sure that there is a service there to do so.鈥�
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