The special election date was approved Tuesday by the Webster County Board of Supervisors.

If approved, a dedicated tax for EMS services of 75 cents per $1,000 of taxable value would be created. This proposed tax would include and fund small communities like Barnum, Lehigh, Duncombe, Otho, Clare, Badger, Callender, Vincent, Harcourt, and Moorland.

Law enforcement and fire protection are paid for with taxes, but EMS, which isn’t legally considered an essential service, is not unless voters approve a levy.

The Fort Dodge Fire Department currently covers all of northern Webster County for EMS responses and is an advanced life support service. Southwest Webster Emergency Medical Service, a basic life support ambulance, covers the southwest corner of Webster County. The Dayton Rescue Squad, also a basic life support service, covers the southeast corner of the county. When volunteer departments are unable to respond or when a patient needs paramedic level care, Fort Dodge has been responding to calls throughout all of Webster County.

-Messenger file photo
Dayton Rescue EMT Sara Pieper, at left along with fellow EMT Steph Swanson check over supplies and equipment in one of the the ambulances in 2021. Unlike police and fire department services, EMS is not currently considered an essential service. On Tuesday, the Webster County Board of Supervisors set a March 5, 2025, special election date for voters to decide if county EMS will be funded as an essential service by property taxes.

“We need EMS because people’s lives are at stake,” said Luke Hugghins, an EMS advisory council member from the Badger area. “Everyone, regardless of where they live, should have access to EMS. Fort Dodge Fire Department and our local EMS departments cannot handle the burden as is. People need emergency care at an increasing rate and they deserve the highest level of care in the shortest amount of time, every time.”

The tax would fund first responder departments with $10,000 annually to offset the costs of facilities, equipment, staff, and training. It would also support the hiring of a Webster County medical director with an EMS coordinator to focus on state paperwork and credentialing, recruitment and retention, billing, and reimbursements from insurance companies to increase revenue.

The remainder of the tax valuation funding would stay with the transport service departments for training, staffing, and equipment.

According to Hugghins and the advisory council, this would add a secondary Fort Dodge Fire Department location which would allow for the current department to focus on serving City of Fort Dodge residents rather than all of Webster County. It would add consistent staffing for the agencies to respond with the closest ambulance to provide faster response times.

Currently Fort Dodge is responding to calls throughout the county, not just in city limits. It would also provide the opportunity to supplement the EMS or bring it back to the fire departments which have been utilizing fire funding for ambulance services in the past.

Fort Dodge Assistant Fire Chief Matt Price estimated that Fort Dodge Fire Rescue is able to respond to calls within the Fort Dodge city limits within 10 minutes and will be able to reach surrounding communities within 20 minutes.

According to Hugghins, the annual revenue needed to improve and fund emergency medical services in Webster County is $1,658,000.

The council suggested to the supervisors that a property tax of 75 cents per $1,000 of taxable value would fund the annual needs to keep EMS services operating in Webster County.

The process of making EMS an essential service has been multiple years in the making, according to Hugghins, with the EMS Association putting together a task force two years prior.

This is a movement that is happening in many counties statewide. Residents in 12 Iowa counties voted for a dedicated EMS tax in the recent general election, including Sac County and Hamilton County who approved the tax levy.