Jefferson County Ambulance Service Agency to dissolve

FAIRFIELD – The Jefferson County Ambulance Service Agency (JCASA) is being dissolved at the end of June now that it is no longer needed to administer funding of the ambulance service.

The agency was created in 2001 to manage the provision of ambulance services in the county, and included a representative of the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors, Fairfield City Council, and Jefferson County Health Center Board of Directors. In October 2023, Jefferson County assumed responsibility for ambulance services when the service switched from being done by a private contractor to being county-run.

Though the county was then in charge of running the ambulance, the health center still collected a 27-cent levy for ambulance service which it then passed on to the county, a levy the health center announced it would discontinue at the end of June 2025. In November 2024, voters in Jefferson County approved the creation of a new EMS levy of 75 cents per $1,000 of taxable valuation to pay for the ambulance service. The new levy takes effect July 1.

Supervisor Lee Dimmitt was one of the driving forces behind transitioning the county from a privately-run ambulance to a county-run service, and he said he’s proud of what the county has done in the last two years.

“It had never been done before in Jefferson County, having a public ambulance service,” Dimmitt said.

Current representatives on JCASA include Tom Twohill of the Fairfield City Council, Susie Drish of the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors, and Julie Greeson of the Jefferson County Health Center Board of Directors. Greeson, who has served on the agency for 10 years, said JCASA held its final meeting earlier this month.

“We always did what we felt was best for the safety of the county,” Greeson said, adding that she does not believe residents will notice any difference after June 30 except when they examine their tax bill and notice the elimination of the health center’s 27-cent levy and the addition of the new EMS ambulance levy. “We’re looking forward to the future, and hope everything goes well. We want to support the ambulance in any way possible. [Ambulance Director] Josh [Hemminger] seems to be doing a good job, and we’d like to see that continue.”

Before the ambulance was a county-run entity, it was run by CARE Ambulance based in Iowa City, and before that it was run by Midwest Ambulance.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com