One-percent sales tax for EMS on November ballot

By Bill Boyle
San Juan Record Editor
Voters in San Juan County will be asked to approve a one percent sales tax in November to provide a dedicated funding source for ambulance and emergency medical services (EMS) in San Juan County.
San Juan County EWMS Director Jeremy Hoggard outlined the proposal, and the reasons he hopes voters will approve Proposition 7, at a community meeting on September 14 in Monticello.
A similar meeting will be held at the Blanding Arts and Events Center on Monday, September 21 at 6 p.m.
If Proposition 7 is approved, Hoggard estimates that the sales tax will generate up to $1.2 million a year. The sales tax would be in place for ten years. At that time, extending the sales tax would once again require voter approval.
Hoggard said that the funds would be used to support EMS services, to eventually help upgrade equipment and facilities, and to cover the costs of unreimbursed care.
Hoggard said that - if approved by voters in November - a sales tax will generate revenue from visitors to the area, including restaurant and motel purchases. The sales tax is not added to grocery purchases.
San Juan County EMS crews cover one of the largest and most rural service areas in Utah. A large number of EMS calls - approximately 40 percent of the total - involve patients from outside the area.
Many of the visitors are drawn to the remote back country and, unfortunately, too many participate in high-risk recreation activities that may require a complicated and costly response from EMS crews.
San Juan County has two ambulances that are staffed 24/7 and offer an advance level of service. In addition, Bluff and La Sal are covered by dedicated first responders.
San Juan County EMS currently staffs six full time EMS positions and 35 part time positions. In total, EMS staff needs to cover 71,000 hours a year in order to meet the on-call requirements of state regulations.
Hoggard said that the EMT pay in San Juan County is currently the lowest in the extended area, creating a challenge to recruit and retain employees.
Hoggard said that a dedicated sales tax to support ambulance services is common in the area, with a one percent sales tax rate already approved by voters in neighboring Grand, Wayne, Garfield, and Kane counties in Utah.
Hoggard said that there is a two percent sales tax for EMS services in neighboring Dolores County, CO
Voters in Grand County recently approved an increase to the one percent sales tax for EMS, ten years after approving a .5 percent rate in 2016. The voter approval in Grand County was 73 percent in 2016 and 67 percent in the recent rate upgrade.
The total sales tax rate is currently 6.35 percent in San Juan County, with a 6.75 percent rate in Blanding, 6.65 percent in Bluff and 7.45 percent in Bluff.
In contrast to the current 6.35 percent sales tax in San Juan County, the sales tax rate in neighboring counties where the EMS tax is already approved includes 7.35 percent in Grand, Garfield and Kane counties, and 7.65 percent in Wayne County.
San Juan County Commissioners approved the motion to place the proposition on the ballot. The county considered three options, including a property tax, a sales tax, or decreasing the level of service. After close consideration, Hoggard said the commission determined that a sales tax is the best alternative.
A sales tax spreads the tax burden across a larger population and collects from the visitors that account for up to 40 percent of the ambulance calls.
When asked why EMS doesn’t simply increase the rates it charges, Hoggard explained the state sets the reimbursement rates and they cannot be changed.
San Juan County is required to provide the same level of service as the larger counties along the Wasatch Front.
“And we have to recover those costs with about 600 ambulance calls a year,” said Hoggard, rather than the thousands of calls a year in larger areas.
In contrast, Grand County has about twice as many ambulance calls per year as does San Juan County EMS.
In 2025, Hoggard explained that there were 591 EMS responses within the system and 449 patient transports.
Hoggard also explained that nearly 25 percent of ambulance calls in 2025 did not end in a patient being transported to the hospital. A quarter of the time, the crews respond to an emergency situation, help stabilize the patient, and then the patient refuses transport to the hospital for a variety of reasons.
In these cases, there is no charge to the patient or reimbursement to EMS, even though there are significant costs to respond.
Utah Navajo Health System (UNHS) operates EMS services in southern San Juan County.
The UNHS operation is an entirely separate EMS system. It would not access the sales tax generated by the Proposition 7 item on the November general election ballot.