Rescue squad funding cut not linked to drowning death

Sen. Phil Williams

An Etowah County Lawmaker said Wednesday that a decision to reallocate funding from Etowah county’s 1-percent sales tax and cut the Etowah County Rescue Squad’s funds altogether was made long before an incident in April that triggered the repossession Tuesday of Homeland Security equipment assigned to the squad.

Sen. Phil Williams, R-Rainbow City, said the decision to cut rescue squad funding from the tax allocation had nothing to do with the drowning death April 25 of Etowah County Rescue Squad member Vicky Ryan. The repossession of the equipment and actions to ban the rescue squad from operating in the county essentially shuts down its operations. Permits for fundraising roadblocks in Rainbow City and Gadsden also have been denied.  Williams sponsored legislation that reallocated funds from the 1-percent sales tax. The Etowah County and Attalla rescue squads — two separate organizations — were the only two agencies cut from allocations altogether. The bill was voted on in May and has been signed into law. The changes in reallocation take effect Oct. 1.

Williams and other legislators asked for a public hearing in January that allowed all the agencies and organizations that receive a portion of the 1-percent sales tax to explain how the money is used. Previously there had been no accountability for the way the money was spent.