Commissioners seeking paramedic for ambulance operation;

Perkins County commissioners will start a search for a paramedic to staff the Grant ambulance and oversee ambulance operations. 

For several months, Perkins County commissioners have looked at how best to provide coverage for the ambulance service.

Presently, members of the Grant Fire Department provide the EMTs to cover ambulance calls. 

While the department has 11 EMTs, some work out of town while others have obligations that make them unavailable during the day. Another two are on leave. 

As a result, it’s becoming more difficult personnel-wise to immediately respond when an ambulance call comes in.

In addition, the department assists in routine transfers to other hospitals. 

However, if a hospital patient is transferred while on an IV or may have the need for advanced life support, paramedics from Regional West in Ogallala are called in to handle the transfer. 

Ambulance Coordinator Bob Tatum has told commissioners the county is losing out on significant revenue generated by these kinds of transfers. 

Commissioners considered hiring a full-time EMT to ensure the ambulance was covered when a call came in. 

However, that solution still did not allow the county to recapture the additional revenue when a paramedic is required for the transfer. 

Commissioners approved the search for at least one paramedic, with the possibility of adding one or possibly two down the road. 

They also discussed working with the hospital to see if they could incorporate the paramedic on their staff outside of transfer calls. 

Commissioner Steve Tucker, an EMT himself, will gather members of a hiring committee to help evaluate applicants for the position. 

In a previous story on the ambulance issue, the Tribune Sentinel incorrectly reported the county was required by state statute to provide ambulance services for the  county. 

A check with the Nebraska Association of County Officials indicated no statute requires a county to provide ambulance services.  

TERC hearing Monday

Perkins County Assessor Peggy Burton testified in a day-long hearing Monday before the Tax Equalization and Review Commission on the disputed valuations of the Wheatland Industries ethanol plant in Madrid. 

Burton said TERC has combined appeals from Wheatland Industries for the 2018, 2019 and 2020 valuations. 

In 2017, Burton set the assessed valuation at $16.3 million. Wheatland appealed the valuation to TERC, who later reduced the valuation to $8.2 million. 

In 2018, 2019 and 2020, Burton lowered the valuation to $13.38 million. Wheatland appealed the valuation for each of those three years. 

Burton said with a backlog of appeals due to COVID-19, TERC opted to combine the hearing to cover all three appeals. 

Burton told commissioners last week that Wheatland failed to meet the June 30 deadline for filing an appeal of the 2021 valuation, which remained at the $13.38 million value.

After the TERC ruling on the 2017 valuation, local taxing entities were required to pay back the difference in taxes Wheatland had already paid, but were given a five-year period to do so. 

In June 2020, Wheatland Industries filed suit in U.S. District Court challenging the state statute that gives local taxing entities a five-year grace period to repay the tax overages.