In South Jordan and West Jordan, they're doing it on their own, while Riverton is staying with the status quo.
Draper is facing some hard choices, saying it may have to impose a significant tax increase in part to pay the cost.A law that went into effect this month is creating a tidal wave effect among cities in Salt Lake County when it comes to providing paramedic services.
Over the years, the majority of the cities have contracted with Salt Lake County Fire Department to provide paramedic service in their boundaries.
Residents paid for the service with their annual tax bill assessed by the county. The new law, however, shifts the collection of taxes to the cities. As a result, some elected leaders say they have learned they can provide the service cheaper and better by doing it on their own, especially now since they are getting the revenue.
Other elected leaders have found, to their dismay, that paramedic service is going to cost them more because their city hasn't been paying its fair share to the county.
In South Jordan, the city plans to start its own paramedic service on July 1 and bring on nine additional fire department employees. City Manager Rick Horst said the city will receive $258,000 in tax revenue that was forwarded to the county under the old system. They also plan on getting about $90,000 in fees charged to patients taken to area hospitals.
He figures it will cost the city about $400,000 a year to run its own service, leaving the city with a shortfall of roughly $52,000. The county had been charging $495,000 for the service.
"I think everybody assumed the monies would be equivalent to take care of the needs, but the larger cities were subsiding the smaller cities," Horst said. "It creates a bit of a dilemma for the smaller cities, but in my mind, it brings parity to the issue and people are assured they are at least not being double taxed."
Salt Lake residents, for example, continued to pay taxes to the county for paramedic services, even though the city has its own paramedics.
West Jordan's share of the tax bill for paramedics came to $452,000 a year. West Jordan Fire Chief Jake Nielsen said the city paid for two county paramedics to work out of one its stations to serve a population of about 72,000.
Two paramedics often weren't enough, Nielsen said.
The city plans to immediately double its number of paramedics and for about $100,000, Nielsen said the city can maintain its own paramedic program.
"I think we will have better protection and better coverage," he said. "It's simple economics."
Part of the impetus behind the legislation was the desire of larger cities to have their own paramedic service.
Salt Lake City has its own, as does West Valley City. Murray is gearing up to provide paramedics.
With those cities dropping out, the pool of revenue is receding, leaving smaller cities like Riverton and Draper to pay more for a service that had once been funded by a good chunk of change assessed to larger cities.
West Valley City Manager John Patterson said that city began its own paramedic service a year ago, added a second unit in April and soon every fire station will have a paramedic unit.
"We can provide four times the coverage the county provided for the same dollars," he said. "The dollars the citizens used to contribute to the county far exceeded the services."
In contrast, Draper is anticipating it will have to pay about $168,000 more than it has been to continue its contract for paramedics with Salt Lake County.
Assistant City Manager Erick Keck said Draper has no plans to pull away from the county for its paramedic service.
E-mail: amyjoi@desnews.com