The Columbus Junction City Council agreed to acquire the Louisa County Ambulance Service during their regular meeting September 8th. 

The city council began holding discussions on the matter in early August. Columbus Junction City Clerk Julie Heindel says the timetable for next steps is uncertain at this point in time, “Right now our first step is to get with our city attorney and then go from there. There’s nothing certain yet, we would like to get it taken over as soon as possible but we don’t know how long that ‘soon as possible’ is going to take.” 

Louisa County Ambulance, which is based in Columbus Junction, services a 513 square-mile area that includes the cities of Columbus Junction, Columbus City, Fredonia, Cotter, Grandview, Letts, Conesville, and the surrounding townships. Columbus Junction is expected to take over all the ambulance service’s equipment and staff. This action will allow the LCAS to receive increased Medicaid reimbursements that were not available to the service as a nonprofit and they could possibly receive $48,000 in additional reimbursements according to LCAS officials. This move comes after the Louisa County Board of Supervisors originally pitched combining the counties into one service, as the state passed a law this year that allows counties to declare ambulance services as essential and establish a tax to fund said service upon approval by voters. The board walked back their idea after the City of Wapello voiced their contentment with their service.