CHOCOWINITY — A letter of intent, a denial of that intent, a lawsuit and a cancelled contract sum up the recent history between Beaufort County officials and the only nonprofit paramedic-level squad operating in the county. Now, the threat of closing Chocowinity EMS, and ending the squad’s assistance to surrounding districts, has residents very concerned about the future of emergency service on the south side of the river.

“The calls I’m getting, the letters, the knocks on the door I’m getting from the entire south side of the river, even people from Washington, Old Ford, Pantego, Broad Creek — people are extremely concerned, so it’s not just a south of the river issue. People are concerned, but I keep telling them, ‘We’re working on it,’” Beaufort County Commissioner Ron Buzzeo said. “If this goes to June 30, we’re going to have a major problem.”

June 30 is the day the county’s agreement ends with Chocowinity EMS — 180 days notice as specified by contract. According to Beaufort County Commissioner Hood Richardson, commissioners voted to end the contract because Chocowinity EMS is using taxpayer dollars to make non-emergency transports, putting the nonprofit squad in direct competition with private companies.

“The county has decided it’s against the law to mingle these private and public funds,” Richardson said. “I think the law’s the law and it’s very clear. You’re either going to be a transporter or you’re going to be emergency, but you’re not going to be both. … They are two entirely different franchises. Government should not be competing with private entities.”

The cancelled contract is the county’s way of bringing Chocowinity EMS back to the table to renegotiate its contract — a new one would bar the squad from providing any service other than responding to emergency calls, Richardson said.

But there are many who believe Chocowinity EMS is well within its rights to operate in other capacities. One of those is District Court Judge Michael Paul, who heard Chocowinity EMS’ case against the county in November of 2014. The suit was filed in response to Beaufort County Emergency Management Coordinator John Pack’s notice to Vidant-Beaufort Hospital that Chocowinity EMS was not authorized to make transports of patients from Vidant-Beaufort Hospital in Washington to Vidant Medical Center in Greenville. Paul found in favor of Chocowinity EMS and shortly afterward, the paramedic squad began making transports between the facilities. And on Dec. 12, 2014, shortly after the transports began, commissioners voted to cancel the squad’s contract.

Buzzeo is another who believes there’s no conflict between Chocowinity EMS’ emergency services and the medical transport services.

“I can’t see that Chocowinity EMS is doing anything they shouldn’t do. They are a premiere organization. They are a nonprofit corporation. They have 150 years of (combined) experience, the latest technology and equipment. I look at them as the model that we should be using for the whole county,” Buzzeo said. “I don’t agree that they’re doing anything outside of the contract, outside of state requirements or outside county requirements.”

According to Chocowinity EMS Board Chairman Jay McRoy, the cancelled contract is the result of misinformation — county commissioners have never tried to talk to them about what Chocowinity EMS is doing and why they are doing it. McRoy said the intrafacility transports are simply another way for the nonprofit to try to break even and to support the higher cost of paramedic-level service.

McRoy said Chocowinity EMS is not using county money to pay for the squad to compete with private entities like Tar Heel Medical Transport and Coastal Medical Transport, companies that do non-medical transports.

“The county tax rate is 53 cents. Chocowinity EMS does not get one cent out of the county general fund. The only tax money Chocowinity EMS gets is the people in the Chocowinity service district have a special tax assessment. We get that money for only in that district,” McRoy said. “If you live here in Washington, Chocowinity doesn’t get anything from you. We don’t get any money from the county.”

Those who live within the Chocowinity EMS service district pay 3.5 cents per $100, which equates to $320,000 a year to help fund the squad, McRoy said, then went on to explain that it takes $510,000 a year to run a single paramedic truck. As the squad has two trucks, the $320,000 coming from Chocowinity Township property owners via the county does not approach the funds needed. The difference is made up through billing Medicaid, Medicare and private insurers, in addition to any fundraisers and donations received.

“To fund the second truck without using tax dollars and charging the people of Chocowinity, we decided that Vidant had a need to transfer certain patients from Washington to Greenville — that had a medical need as determined by the ER doctor,” McRoy said.

Chocowinity EMS Capt. Shane Grier said the squad has only been doing intrafacility transports — 49 in December, over 40 in January — and has not stepped on the toes of the companies doing non-medical transports because, he said, the current contract with the county prohibits them from doing so.

“We’re hauling people with a medical necessity that have to go,” Grier said. “We’re not in competition with private transport because No. 1, private transports cannot do these runs.”

Heart attack and stroke patients, trauma patients, critically ill children — cases that require the oversight of paramedics, are those the squad has been taking on the ride from Washington to Greenville, Grier said.

McRoy said he doesn’t know why the county cancelled the contract, but the reaction from many has been outrage. The Cypress Landing community held three Town Hall meetings on the subject last Monday, each one packed to capacity, he said.

The state of emergency services on the south side of the river hinges on whether the county and Chocowinity EMS can reach some type of agreement before June 30. Should it not happen, the county would have to pay a for-profit service to cover the area.

“We’ll bid it. We’ll contract to somebody,” Richardson said. “The big point for me is Chocowinity is not going to be without emergency medical services. It’s going to be continuous.”

In that case, the situation would be similar to that of for-profit White Oak EMS, which has been covering eastern Beaufort County since Vidant-Pungo Hospital in Belhaven closed last year. The cost to county taxpayers for the service is $580,000, some of which is recouped through billing and payment from the Town of Belhaven. The rest, however, is paid for out of the county’s general fund.

“If Chocowinity EMS was to be closed and they bid this out to a for-profit corporation, everyone in the county would be paying,” Buzzeo said. “The cost would much higher to the residents of the county. If anything, the county’s getting a bargain — I think they’re getting a bargain at $320,000.”

Buzzeo said he hoped it won’t come to bidding the job out: several county commissioners are working hard to resolve the issue. But if there’s no resolution by the end of June, Chocowinity EMS will have no other choice.

“It’s hard to say what’s going to happen. I know that June 30, if the contract lapses, we’ll lock the doors on June 30,” Grier said.