County to Hold EMS Hearing on FridayCLEARWATER - The Pinellas County Board of Commissioners will hold a special public hearing Friday, March 20, to consider a resolution to implement Reasonable and Customary Cost Standards regarding EMS and a resolution to consider Performance Standards. The public hearing will be held at 9:30 a.m. in the fifth-floor Assembly Room of the Pinellas County Courthouse, 315 Court St., Clearwater. The proposal seeks to reduce costs by eliminating "excess capacity" in the county-wide EMS system. In Clearwater, 2 Advanced Life Support trucks would be eliminated, with their function transferred into fire engines. County funding of 7.6 city Fire Medic positions would be eliminated. Other county fire districts and municipal Fire/Rescue departments would also be cut, with the objective being to save $18-million annually while still conforming to national EMS response time standards.
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