Etowah Rescue Squads face funding losses

Etowah County's Rescue Squad is scrambling to make up for a huge budget shortfall, after an Etowah County sales tax was reallocated for law enforcement.

Earlier this week, members of the county's state legislative delegation announced plans to reallocate a one cent sales tax, with more money going to deputy pay raises, the county's drug unit and the D.A.'s office.

But in order to come up with more than $650,000 to make that happen, multiple other agencies, including Gadsden State Community College and the Smeltzer Center for special needs adults, saw cuts in funding.

The Etowah County and Attalla Rescue Squads actually lost all of their funding...in the case of ECRS, it was the entire $10,000 they received each year.

Captain Mike Bettis says the rescue squad, for now, will push harder on its fundraising efforts, through roadblocks and other means.

The rescue squad's annual roadblock is set for the morning of May 2. The two locations are the intersection of East Broad Street and Hood Avenue; and the entrance to the Gadsden Mall on Rainbow Drive.

The rescue squad has been operating since 1960, and is especially known for water rescues and recovery, due to all of their missions in Black Creek, near Noccalula Falls and on the Coosa River. It's not unusual for the squad to assist on out-of-county missions, including the recent search for a missing woman near Lincoln.