A new tax district has been proposed by Star Valley Health to the Lincoln County Commissioners as a way to fund emergency medical services. The proposal from Star Valley Health was to ask the commission to approve the creation of the district and include a mill levy in the next election, giving voters that chance to decide if they want to support EMS with a tax district.
“Really, the ask is to put this into the voters hands,” stated Star Valley Health CEO Dan Ordyna to the commissioners during the regularly scheduled County Commissioner meeting on Tuesday, February 3.
Currently, EMS services are not listed as an ‘Essential Service’ by the state of Wyoming, leaving the full burden of funding to counties, municipalities and providers. According to Ordyna, Star Valley Health has been operating this service at a large loss.
The district would align with the current North Lincoln Hospital District boundary. According to conversation that occurred during the commission meeting, a district could be created without a mill levy imposed. To do so there would be a required public hearing followed by six weeks for comment.
“In this scenario, the commissioners would appoint the board for the tax district, similar to the weed and pest district” Commission Chair Kent Connelly explained to SVI Media. “Then that board would ultimately decide if they want to include a mill levy vote in the election.”
In order to fully fund EMS services, Ordyna stated that a four mill levy would be needed. A max of six can be enacted.
The conversation extended into the commission meeting the following day, Wednesday, February 4, where commissioners eventually unanimously approved a motion that would simply allow the process to continue into the next phase of a public hearing. The motion made clear that the commission was not creating the district at that time and did not intend to enact a mill levy, but would leave that decision to the district’s board and voters.
“Star Valley Health supports the formation of an EMS District. Providing for and growing a healthy community is at the core of what we do, and sustainable emergency services are critical to the future of a healthy Lincoln County,” said Ordyna in a statement to SVI Media. “We all count on EMS to be there when we need it most. A new district that we can partner with does just that.”
A date for the public hearing has not been announced. It is expected that date will be announced in a forthcoming commission meeting February 17 or March 3. If the district is eventually approved and created, and if a mill levy is added to the ballot, it will likely be included in the 2026 General Election in November.
