EMS and 911 officials ask county for new ambulances and emergency communications funding after state veto

Morristown Hamblen EMS and the county's emergency communications officials asked commissioners for additional support after changes to expected state revenue left both services facing shortfalls.

Morristown Hamblen EMS asked the commission to help fund a replacement frontline ambulance, citing a 2017 unit with roughly 250,000 miles and rising maintenance costs. The EMS speaker said the service runs roughly 12,200 calls a year and emphasized the operational risk when an ambulance is out of service. "This request is not about a luxury or an expansion. It's about maintaining reliability and readiness and public safety," the EMS representative said, adding that equipment downtime affects outcomes for cardiac arrest, stroke and trauma patients.

The consolidated 911 center described a revenue gap caused by the veto of Senate Joint Resolution 48, which had been expected to add recurring revenue. Director Eric Carpenter told commissioners that the budget the E911 board passed relied on that revenue; the governor's veto turned a modest surplus into a material deficit. Carpenter laid out recurring costs that include maintenance agreements for CAD and mapping services, GIS licensing for mobile data terminals and annual maintenance on core systems. He said the combined maintenance agreements alone total roughly $232,000, leaving limited discretionary funds to run operations.

Carpenter urged both county and city governments to consider joint funding: the center is historically funded by a mix of city and county contributions and call-volume shares, and the E911 board used a state-recommended (MTAS) model to allocate responsibility. Commissioners asked for breakdowns and said they would review whether to supplement the center's budget; county staff said they would provide detailed line-item documents to support the requests.

Directors briefed commissioners on the communications infrastructure the county has bought in recent years: LTE-enabled responder radios and expanded mapping services. Staff said annual LTE connectivity and remote-programming costs for roughly 193 radios would be about $67,550; a seven-year extended warranty option for the radios was presented as a one-time purchase (about $93,528) that would reduce future repair bills. Officials warned that without stable recurring revenue, the center must defer maintenance and training, which could affect response reliability.

Commissioners asked for further financial detail and for the E911 board to continue working with the city to identify a fair cost split. No formal appropriation was made at the hearing; leaders said the commission will consider supplemental funding requests in upcoming budget deliberations.