...All that combined is a greater burden on him than we, as a state and society, can impose.

My dad had a heart attack recently and we had to have an ambulance for him, I had to call for my wife too. We rely on the district just like everyone else.

You can't buy the same pair of jeans at the same price you could five years ago. Why would you expect our cost to stay the same?

Taxes bring in about $300,000 a year. Even with only one ambulance and the staff to man it 24 hours a day it would stretch that $300,000. Then, of course, there's rent and utilities and all the other expenses. The district was formed 28 years ago. How many times have we asked for an increase since then? I think it's been one time. We are trying to provide the best service we can for the area and do it as efficiently as we can.

We are here to serve the people of Vernon County. We respond to an emergency call immediately and a crew is called to come in as backup. We don't wait because taking that call is our primary purpose. A transfer is different, it takes us out of our area.

We don't leave the district without a crew. Cedar County does, but we don't. We won't take a transfer unless there is a crew ready to answer the call if someone needs an ambulance here in Vernon County. These are the people we serve and we won't leave them without protection.