Thousands of Rockford area residents may soon be without ambulance services. Here's why

Boone County Fire Protection District 2 residents will be asked to approve a spring referendum for continued ambulance service.

For years, the approximately 15,000 people in the 133-square-mile fire protection district were served by two OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center Lifeline ambulances.

Last fall, however, Saint Anthony sold its ambulance service to Elite, a private ambulance company based in Orland Park.

"We had a great working relationship with Lifeline ambulance, and we have a good working relationship with Elite. Unfortunately, our contract is up come April 2024," said Boone County District 2 Fire Chief Brian Kunce.

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For 36 years, residents in southern Boone County enjoyed the benefits of a hospital-based ambulance service such as that of Saint Anthony, which absorbed the cost of purchasing, staffing, equipping and maintaining two ambulances.

Kunce said residents were only billed if they utilized the service. Without having to worry about the overhead costs of operating an ambulance service, the fire protection district was afforded the luxury of not collecting an ambulance tax.

That perk, however, is coming to an end, Kunce said.

"A private entity can't just store their ambulances and wait for a 911 call," he said. "They need to generate revenue to keep money coming in, which we all understand is how it works."

Kunce said it will likely cost upwards of $1 million to contract with Elite or another private ambulance company to continue having two ambulances serving the district.

"We have no room in our fire budget to subsidize these companies to stay here," he said.

If the April 4 referendum passes, Boone County District 2 residents who are owners of a home valued at $100,000 will be asked to pay about $130 a year or $10.80 per month.

If the referendum fails, the residents will have to rely on neighboring fire departments for ambulance service, which could mean longer response times.

The city of Belvidere is in a similar boat as they too for years had contracted with Saint Anthony's Lifeline ambulance service. Their agreement ends in April.

The city is already seeking proposals from private ambulance providers who will be paid out of the city's fire department budget.

For more information, residents can attend one of four townhall meetings held at 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, March 11 and March 25 at the Boone County Fire Protection District Station No. 2 at 1777 Henry Luckow Lane.

Chris Green: 815-987-1241; cgreen@rrstar.com; @chrisfgreen

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Boone County Fire seeking approval of new ambulance referendum