FAYETTE COUNTY — The Fayette County EMS three-year, 1.9-mill levy was passing by a mere 48 votes at Tuesday’s general election, according to unofficial results from the Fayette County Board of Elections.
The unofficial vote total was listed at 3,539 for the tax levy and 3,491 against.
There are still votes to count for the official totals, according to officials. There are 45 absentee ballots yet to arrive at the office and 138 provisional ballots, according to Robin Beekman, chairman of the Board of Elections. The final total will be determined by the board on Nov. 20 and 21.
If the lead holds and the levy passes, it will only affect the citizens of the participating townships and municipal corporations within the Fayette County EMS District. The total amount raised annually by the 1.9 mills is approximately $1,377,725, according to EMS Director Rod List.
List explained that on Jan. 1, 2024, Fayette County EMS will be changing to the Fayette County EMS District — a separate, standalone public service entity that will be made up of all county townships/municipalities with the exclusion of Jefferson Township and the Greenfield Exempted Village School District portion of Perry Township.
Jefferson Township, which has its own EMS (Jefferson Township Fire and EMS), declined to join the district.
The participating entities in the Fayette County EMS District include: Concord Township, Green Township, Wayne Township, Perry Township, Paint Township, Marion Township, Union Township, Madison Township, Jasper Township, the City of Washington Court House, the Village of Milledgeville, the Village of Bloomingburg, the Village of Octa, and the Village of New Holland.
Each participating entity would have a representative on the Fayette County EMS District Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees would be responsible for running the Fayette County EMS District, according to List.
“We currently average over 4,500 requests for service annually while maintaining an under seven-minute average response time system-wide,” said List. “We are staffed with two ALS crews 24/7 and have four ambulances at our Washington Court House EMS station.”
