Henry County votes ‘Yes’ for EMS

MT. PLEASANT — Henry County residents voted early, by absentee, and showed up to the polls Tuesday, Sept. 10 to cast their ballots approving a tax levy for Emergency Medical Services as an essential county service. Unofficial results showed 92% votes counted in favor of this change (2,273 in favor to 200 against).

The ballot asked voters to vote yes or no on authorizing the Henry County Board of Supervisors imposing the following tax in an annual revenue amount not to exceed $1.1 million for 15 years to fund the Henry County EMS. This ad valorem property tax will be capped at a rate of 75 cents per $1,000 of assessed value on all taxable property within the county.

Before the Henry County Board of Supervisors voted to declare HCEMS as an essential service for the county, their funding was limited under the ownership and operation of Henry County Soldiers’ & Sailors’ Memorial Hospital.

Currently, levy supporting EMS in Henry County is 27 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. When this new levy goes into effect, the tax levy will increase to $0.75 per $1,000 of assessed value, however, the previous levy will go away at that time. This means the levy will essentially increase by 48 cents per $1,000 assessed value. This increase will raise approximately $737,860 to meet the budgetary needs for the EMS program to continue in the county.

Comments: AnnaMarie.Kruse@southeastiowaunion.com