LdF board mulls Oneida County ambulance contract

As 2025 begins, so does the latest contract for ambulance service between Oneida County and the town of Lac du Flambeau. 

With the new year, the contract automatically renews with a four percent increase to $303,175, up from a little more than $290,000 in 2024. 

The town board discussed the ambulance contract during a special meeting on Dec. 23. Town clerk Susan Schoonover advised the panel she had spoken with Oneida County Sheriff Grady Hartman about reporting ambulance calls and allowing the town to pay on a quarterly basis. 

“He didn’t have a problem with any of that,” she said.

The quarterly payments would be $75,793. 

“So, currently, we’d be able to go about six months with what we have in the ambulance fund,” town chairman Matt Gaulke said. 

“That’s what I’m looking at,” Schoonover said. “We pay that first quarter and we’ll have to do some coordinating to see where we are before July 1.”

Lac du Flambeau resident Dave Wakeman asked  about other options the town might have.

“We really have none,” Gaulke said. “Unless we can maybe  strike some type of agreement with neighboring towns, say, Boulder Junction, Manitowish Waters. They cover for us and we cover for them.”

He also said he could contact Hartman and inquire about the town having a contract on a per-run basis.

The new charge Oneida County has for one of its ambulance crews going to a town to care for a patient is $1,800 per run. 

“You mean treated on a per-run basis?” Wakeman asked. 

“That’s what I want to try to do,” Gaulke said. 

Wakeman asked what the numbers are for runs Oneida County ambulances make to Lac du Flambeau. 

“We’re going to have those numbers in January,” Schoonover said. 

Gaulke said the ambulance contract is based on the town’s equalized value. 

“That’s what’s killing us,” town supervisor Dennis Pearson said. “Because right now, if it’s $300,000, that $1,800 (per run), that’s 167 runs or a run every other day which I don’t think’s happening.”

“No,” Gaulke said. 

“What about relief from Vilas County itself?” Wakeman asked. 

“They washed their hands of it,” Gaulke said. “We had the meeting over in Eagle River when we asked them ‘Can you guys try to get some type of system in place?’ because they can’t tax for it and they pretty much just said ‘No, we’re not interested.’”

Lac du Flambeau fire chief and emergency medical services (EMS) director Mike Zimmerman said he was made aware of a survey, that he never saw, that he was told only went to the east side of Vilas County.  

“So, the east side of the county doesn’t care,” he said. “They have an ambulance running out of (Aspirus) Eagle River Hospital. They don’t have to deal with any of this and that’s the problem. The county needs to step up. They really do. Oneida County has an ambulance service. Why doesn’t Vilas County?”

Zimmerman said he was “waiting on the sidelines” to see how the Northwoods Emergency Medical Service District (NEMSD), the ambulance district formed by the towns of Boulder Junction, Manitowish Waters, Winchester and Presque Isle, “plays out.”

“I know three of the four towns are not happy with the situation and what actually is going on but they’re all still in it,” he said. “In my opinion, the county should be stepping up and doing something.”

Lac du Flambeau resident Kay Hoff made the point that there are three Lac du Flambeau representatives on the Vilas County board.

One of those county supervisors is Lac du Flambeau town supervisor Bob Hanson who was at the Dec. 23 meeting but said very little during the discussion. 

Gaulke reiterated that his feeling is Vilas County “doesn’t want to deal with this issue.”

“They basically said that when we had the meeting over there with them,” he said. “They didn’t want to get into it.”

Worthy discussion

On Dec. 27, Hartman, who is under the direction of the Oneida County Public Safety Committee with regard to the ambulance contract, told the The Lakeland Times the committee has directed if there are less than 30 or 40 runs a year, then the $1,800 per run could be implemented for the town. 

Otherwise, the contract is based, as Lac du Flambeau’s is, on the town’s equalized value. 

“That was pretty clear in our discussions with them (the town),” Hartman said.

As of the end of November, he said there had been, for the year, close to 380 ambulance runs made by Oneida County’s Med 5 based at Howard Young Medical Center in Woodruff or Med 4 based in Nokomis if Med 5 was on another call. 

“It’s a worthy discussion,” Hartman said.

Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].