Mecklenburg County Commissioners held a meeting Wednesday with the leaders of the county's towns and municipalities to look for a solution for a contract impasse between medic and first responders.
After a temporary extension, MEDIC’s contract with Charlotte Fire and Huntersville is set to expire in July, and in August for Cornelius. Leaders are searching for solutions to address funding and service challenges.
Currently, fire crews respond to medical calls under MEDIC’s oversight. If the contracts end, fire crews — funded by the municipalities — would shift responsibility to MEDIC. Leaders from northern Mecklenburg towns say long ambulance wait times already strain local resources. Davidson Mayor Rusty Knox gave his perspective from his town.
“When I’m waiting on an ambulance, I’ve got eight firefighters on a shift, four on this truck, four on that truck,” Knox said. “If my truck’s waiting on an ambulance, I’m down 50%.”
Officials urged the county to commission a third-party study to assess emergency medical needs. The northern Mecklenburg County towns want dedicated MEDIC crews stationed in their area (currently the county is divided into three zones for MEDIC, which they claim provides response areas that are too large) to improve response times. And the municipalities don't want to lose county funds for their fire crews' emergency services, which amount to nearly $500,000 a year for the city of Charlotte.
County Manager Dena Diorio said the towns and Charlotte already levy taxes to fund emergency services, and the county subsidizing them amounts to double taxation. They should cover their own costs for emergency medical services, she said.
County Commissioners appeared divided.
Elaine Powell questioned whether Mecklenburg County should subsidize the municipalities to provide emergency medical services. She said that instead, the county should focus on building up MEDIC as a better system countywide.
"We have to invest in MEDIC,” Powell said. “And if we’re investing more in supplementing, and what a lot of people believe is double taxation, we’re using dollars that would be better used building MEDIC.”
Powell also said if a third-party study is conducted, each town should have input to ensure local needs are addressed.
