Tegan Harrington presents on Measures A & B

DOWNIEVILLE, SIERRA CITY — This year’s March 5th ballot contains a couple of measures of great importance to residents in western Sierra County.

Measures A & B renew crucial funding for Paramedic and Emergency Medical Services for the Downieville and Sierra City Fire Protection Districts. The measures, if reapproved, continue the special property tax of $60 per annum per improved real property for Emergency Medical Services and Fire & Rescue Services in each district. No new taxes or tax increases are proposed in these measures. Passage requires a two-thirds approval vote and must be renewed every four years. This tax allows the districts to maintain 24/7 paramedic coverage with two paramedics. Paramedics, licensed to provide advanced care, play a crucial role in EMS because their advanced training allows for more capabilities than volunteer EMTs and First Responders. The paramedics also train our county’s EMTs and emergency volunteers.

Deputy Medical Director Frank Lang and Paramedic & Emergency Medical Services Operations Manager Tegan Harrington hosted information sessions in Sierra City and Downieville last Wednesday and Friday evenings. Presenting before a packed crowd at the Downieville Community Hall, they provided in-depth information about the measures and their importance to the community, fielding questions from the audience. Lang and Harrington highlighted the frequency of emergencies for such a small county. There were 420 ambulance runs from 2021 to 2023. Over 80% of those runs required a paramedic’s advanced life-support skills, and about one-third needed to be flown out by helicopter. About 35% of calls are for non-residents of Sierra County. Though they bill insurance companies for residents and non-residents alike, they generally only get a 30% return on insurance billing, leaving them in the hole to cover the costs of the services. With a high percentage of seniors in our communities, almost 75% in Sierra City alone, it is understandable that we have a higher volume of emergencies. They critically also pointed out that without adequate emergency services, no one would want to live here, further hurting our economy and property values.

Ingrid Larson explains Yes on Measures A & B promotional material

The Paramedic program is funded from two major sources: Measures A & B and 2.5% from Sierra County’s Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT). The TOT is a 12.5% tax charged to transient guests in hotels/motels, including properties rented through home-sharing services like Airbnb. The TOT tax is not on the March ballot. The county does not provide direct funding for the program, only putting aside $20K per year into a fund for ambulances, so the program relies almost completely on these two funding sources and charitable donations.

Frank Lang even donates the $107K designated for his salary back into the program to keep it going, so there is some concern about long-term funding for 24/7 emergency services. As Frank said himself, he’s no spring chicken.

Frank Lang details the requirements of 24/7 emergency services

The dedicated work of Frank, Tegan, and the emergency services team can be continued by voting yes on Measures A in Downieville and B in Sierra City.