No more Ruston offers for EMS

Regardless of what the parishwide Ambulance Service Committee does next, the city of Ruston will not provide emergency medical and rescue services to parish residents in 2023.

That comes as a result of the Lincoln Parish Police Jury’s vote earlier this week rejecting the city’s $645,604 offer to continue those services through next year.

“The Lincoln Parish Police Jury’s vote to not accept a proposed agreement from the city of Ruston to provide emergency medical and rescue services to Lincoln Parish residents is disappointing,” Mayor Ronny Walker said in a statement released Thursday.

“The city has provided these services to parish residents for the past 48 years and had hoped to continue the relationship. We trust that the jury believes they have made the best decision for the residents of the parish,” he said.

Walker said Ruston will facilitate the transition to new providers as much as possible. He said existing mutual aid agreements with Lincoln Parish Fire Protection District No. 1 and private EMS providers will remain in place.

The city says even if the ambulance committee requests formal proposals for 2023, it’s too late for Ruston to participate.

At issue is how to provide emergency medical and rescue in the parish once the jury’s current contract with the city expires Dec. 31.

The Ruston Fire Department has been providing both services for decades for $30,000 annually, but when the city upped its proposed price to $120,000, jury leadership began to balk.

After jury leaders cancelled several scheduled meetings with Walker earlier this year, the city withdrew its offer on Jan. 31.

But by February, the city and parish had talked again, and the jury voted to accept the $120,000 offer for service through the end of 2022.

At the same time, jurors approved formation of the parishwide Ambulance Service Committee — the panel whose recommendation the jury nixed on Tuesday. The $645,604 is what the city says was the cost of making parish EMS and rescue run in 2021.