Marathon would get its own ambulance
In November, residents of Brewster County will decide whether having ambulance service in their area is worth a tax increase.
On Tuesday, Brewster County Commissioners Court voted to put the establishment of an Emergency Services District (ESD) for the northern portion of Brewster County on the November ballot.
“The district goes all the way down to about the northern side of Santiago Mountain, but there’s nothing out there, so it’s really irrelevant,” said Brewster County Judge Greg Henington. “It’s really Alpine and Marathon.”
The ESD would operate as a public governing body and supply the area with emergency medical services, including two staffed ambulances for 24 hours a day, every day. In turn, residents would fund the ESD through an increase in their taxes.
While fire department services would also be part of the ESD, the current plan does not call for any changes and for them to remain volunteer, Henington said.
“It’s going to be funded by ad valorem taxes,” Henington said. “So, it is another 10 cents per $100 value. So, if I own a $100,000 home in north Brewster County, I would pay $100 more in taxes.”
According to Henington, the average property value in the area is $200,000, so residents will see an average tax increase of $200.
A local task force has been working to develop a plan to provide emergency medical services to the area since January, after Emergent Air, the company currently supplying those services, informed the county it was planning to close the ground side of its business.
In January, Henington said Emergent Air had agreed to stay in place until at least May 2026 to give the area a chance to find an alternative. But the expectation was that the area would move forward quickly to fund new services.
The task force, including Alpine Mayor Catherine Eaves and chaired by Brewster County resident and former school board member Mark Rose, held three town hall meetings across the area to inform residents and collect feedback before Tuesday’s vote. Rose’s career history also includes helping to run a utility that supported emergency services.
While the county currently pays Emergent Air $350,000 a year for ambulance services, Henington estimated that establishing an ambulance service through an ESD would cost from $900,000 to $1 million a year.
The $350,000 did not cover the cost of running the ground side of the business for Emergent Air, Henington said.
“[The taxpayers] are paying for it now through their Brewster County taxes, and the city and the county basically support it through a subsidy,” Henington said. “We subsidize the EMS. But it’s being subsidized at a much lower level than what we’re gonna go into when we do this as a full-time business.”
“Emergent agreed to come in and provide ground service because they had an expectation of making up the difference in their air carrier,” Rose said. “They are primarily an air ambulance company. Well, it hasn’t turned out that the subsidy is working for them. So they’ve given us notice that at the end of their contract they’re gone.”
Also adding to the cost, said Rose, is the plan to have an ambulance based in Marathon. Currently, Marathon is served by ambulances coming from Alpine.
“An ambulance will go there now, but just because of the way everything is scheduled, it’s difficult,” Rose said. “With an ESD, we would have the resources to have an ambulance and crew stationed in Marathon.”
Other options for providing ambulance service to the area and funding the project have been considered, said Henington and Rose.
“We have taken bids, if you will, or had conversations with various vendors that might be interested, and the cost of estimates are all a million dollars instead of the 300-something thousand,” Rose said. “So that is what it’s going to cost.”
The task force also considered funding the new district by increasing the area’s sales tax but found that the state cap limited that option.
Currently, the state of Texas imposes a sales tax rate of 6.25% and allows local jurisdictions to add up to 2%, for a maximum of 8.25%.
“There’s no room in the sales tax,” Henington said. “You could do this with sales tax, but it doesn’t work up here because the sales tax is already accounted for.”
When asked about other possible options for funding, Rose said, “There really isn’t one.”
Three area residents spoke at the Commissioner’s Court meeting regarding the action, including former Alpine City Council Member Reagan Stone. All acknowledged the need for ambulance services in the area but expressed concerns about the ability of residents to afford the increased taxes.
“Since it’s known that we must pass the resolution, and I support it on the November ballot listing, I’d like to lay out a few concerns I have for the new tax,” Stone said. His concerns included whether a plan would be developed to help residents without insurance afford ambulance service, should they need it, and that the ESD be established as a public entity.
“I would like to understand, or rather see, a plan of an income-driven repayment system based on how much you make and how many are in your family rather than just an upfront cost,” Stone said. “It could be supplemented with an indigent fund either publicly or privately assumed.”
Rose responded to Stone’s concerns, assuring that an ESD is a public entity, subject to all the regulations regarding transparency as other public entities such as commissioners courts and city councils. He also said the task force was hoping to develop a plan for those who could not afford the service.
“Hopefully we can work with the hospital district and some other entities to come up with a way to put a palatable plan in place for indigent care,” Rose said.
Now that the resolution is on the ballot, a new group will be formed, Rose said. “We’re forming a citizens’ group, and we’re gonna educate the voters about how critical this is and how few options there are,” he said.
