For years, the time it takes for county ambulances to respond to emergency calls has lagged behind local officials’ goals.

But with public safety representing a major priority in the proposed county budget for the 2011-2012 fiscal year, Orange County Emergency Services could soon be equipped with new resources to help it better serve the county.

The budget would also maintain education funding and would not lay off a single county employee, commitments County Manager Frank Clifton said could raise property taxes in coming years.

A better response time

On May 17, Clifton proposed a budget that would fund six new emergency medical technicians, two new ambulances and four new telecommunicators.

Capt. Kim Woodward, operations manager for the county’s EMS, said the additional staff could help reduce response time and increase the number of emergency units available to county residents.

The average ambulance response time in Orange County is now 17 minutes. Woodward said the department hopes to reduce that time to 12 minutes.

“We probably won’t reach our goal this year, but it gets us moving towards that goal,” she said.

Reducing the ambulance response time to emergency calls can increase the survival chance of the patient, Woodward said.

But quick response times have other benefits, like taking pressure off partner agencies who also respond to emergency calls and opening up more units to respond to emergency calls, she said.

Delayed priorities

But other large-scale issues, like the county’s shortage of jail space, would be put on hold.

Clifton said the Orange County Jail currently does not have enough beds for its prisoners.

The county is waiting for the state legislature to decide whether the state will stop housing people arrested on misdemeanor charges. They would instead be sent back to their home counties, further pressing Orange County’s already limited jail space options, said County Commissioner Barry Jacobs.

“There’s no real plan for addressing (the space shortage) and I think that’s a deficiency, regardless of what the state does,” he said.

Clarence Grier, financial services director for the county, said the proposed general fund budget of $177.3 million would not call for an increase in the county’s already high property tax rate.

Clifton warned the council at the May 17 meeting that an increase in the property tax rate is likely in upcoming years to alleviate the problem of jail space shortage, as well as to fund upcoming capital projects such as the Efland Sewer Project and the Buckhorn water and sewer expansion.

The budget would provide $83.5 million — about 47 percent of the county’s general fund budget — in education funding, but decrease funding for non-profits.

The final budget will be adopted at the June 21 meeting.

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