Editorial: Squad budget needs a look

The Rowan Rescue Squad’s request for more money raises questions about the amount of money needed and the direction of the Rescue Squad itself.

The organization’s website lists more than a dozen personnel and boasts of 70 volunteers. It also shows an extensive array of rescue equipment. Anyone trapped in a crumpled car or stuck in some other life-threatening situation would be very happy the Rescue Squad is well-equipped. But heavy equipment often comes with a heavy price tag.

There was a day in Rowan County when a funeral home ran the ambulance service and “rescue squad” was an unfamiliar term. Just as the county’s Emergency Medical Services have become more sophisticated and complex, the Rescue Squad has grown, too. Citizens started the Rescue Squad after a 1951 drowning highlighted the need. Seventeen-year-old Bill Barnes went under while trying to swim across the American Quarry in Granite Quarry. It took 10 days to locate the body. Then and there, Sheriff Arthur Shuping and others raised $1,103 to establish the Rescue Squad

Nearly 60 years later, you probably couldn’t pay the light bill for the Rescue Squad’s buildings with $1,103. The budget has gone up, up, up, taking the most dramatic leap in 2006-07. The Rescue Squad was getting $196,000 annually from the county and asked for a $597,000 increase. At least part of the problem was paying for new equipment. Commissioners suggested the squad consult with the county before committing itself to big-ticket items and then OK’d a $118,000 increase.

Soon the county’s contribution went up again. In a nonbinding vote in May 2008, commissioners supported then-Chairman Arnold Chamberlain’s proposal to dedicate just over three-tenths of a cent from county property tax collections to the Rescue Squad, which amounted to $337,000 for the following fiscal year. The allocation has been in the $400,000 range since then.

Keep in mind, the Rescue Squad is a nonprofit agency, not a county department. The taxpayers’ bill would be much higher if that were the case.

In addition to county money, the Rescue Squad has an annual fundraiser, a portrait drive, and is part of United Way. It also has received grants here and there — $6,000 from the Robertson Foundation for a commercial grade washer to handle protective gear, $5,000 from the Salisbury Community Foundation for vehicle extraction equipment, and another $10,000 for a high-tech electrocardiogram monitor/defibrillator.

Now the Rescue Squad has requested a $68,000 increase. The squad has been helping the EMS cover the southern and eastern parts of the county, cutting emergency response time by an impressive two minutes. But the volume of calls has fallen below what the agency expected, hence the $68,000 shortfall.

The Rescue Squad has become an essential part of the county’s emergency response system and seems more quasi-governmental than nonprofit. Commissioners are duty-bound to give this latest request serious consideration, but that consideration will have to include a close look at the agency’s books. No one is accusing the squad of anything, but the trend in its budget requests raises questions, and the county deserves answers. As President Reagan liked to say, trust but verify.