LAWRENCE, Ind. -- Has a fight over funding for the Lawrence ambulance service put lives in danger?
That's the concern after the city council rejected a bid to fund the ambulance service.
Two committees of the Lawrence Common Council gave unanimous votes to the ambulance-funding plan. But, when it came time for the official vote, the council pulled the rug out from under the plan.
Heading into the weekend, Lawrence will have only one ambulance available for its nearly 50,000 residents. It has neither the funding nor the staffing to do more.
At stake was a proposed $2-an-hour raise to keep Lawrence EMTs and paramedics from leaving for higher-paying jobs with other departments. Instead of a raise, the Democrat-controlled city council decided the fire service should pay more than twice that in overtime to staff the ambulance.
Last month alone, the city paid $8,600 out of the general fund for overtime.
Councilor Rick Wells was the lone council Democrat to vote in favor of EMS pay raises.
The department says it can no longer jeopardize safety by pulling firefighters off of equipment to staff ambulance runs.
Lawrence City Council President Joe Williams, a Democrat, did not return RTV6's requests for comment.
