by Kate Shunney
Morgan County Commissioners have set another public hearing to take comments from residents and business owners about a method to collect a county ambulance fee from commercial entities.
The hearing will be held on Wednesday, February 18 at 11:30 a.m. in the County Commission meeting room of the Morgan County Courthouse.
Two previous hearings were held to gather ideas about a fair way to apply the ambulance service fee on commercial properties in the county.
Since the fee took effect in 2007, only residential property owners have paid the annual ambulance fee. The fee is currently $150 per residential unit. It was originally set at $75 but has risen as costs have gone up.
The idea of applying the fee to commercial properties has been floated several times over the last decade.
In 2025, the county faced a demand from Morgan County EMS for a higher contract price for their ambulance services. That contract fee — $1.54 million — is more than what the county takes in from residential ambulance fees. The county takes in $1.34 million each year in ambulance fees.
At press time, the county had not released a draft of their proposed commercial ambulance fee structure. In December, commissioners had discussed a fee based on the square footage of a commercial property, set up in tiers, with a minimum fee of $150 to match the current residential fee.
