If a ballot measure to save 911 in Texas County fails, the hospital says it will not take over the system.
At Tuesday’s Texas County Memorial Hospital board meeting, CEO Wes Murray said the loss of the current system would place an additional burden on the hospital. But the organization would not take the reins of the current Wri-Tex 911 setup.
“We do not have a plan to take over Wright/Texas County 9-1-1, and if the service is no longer available, we will go back to dispatching our own ambulances,” Murray told board members.
An April 8 vote seeks to fund 911 with a three-eighths of 1 percent sales tax in Texas County. The current setup, which only taxes landline telephones, is not producing enough revenue to support the emergency system. Missouri is the only state in the country that does not tax cell phones.
Wright County, a partner with Texas County since its origination, has announced plans to pull out of the current setup.
Murray told hospital board members the Wri-Tex 911 office located on the TCMH campus does not pay rent or utilities to the hospital for the space they have used since the service’s inception. Murray explained that TCMH has been involved in the Wri-Tex 911 board meetings because the majority of calls into the service require an ambulance to be dispatched.
“They have their own board and operate independently of the hospital,” Murray said.