Campbell to add emergency levy to November Ballot amid ambulance issues

For months--officials in Campbell have been working through an ambulance crisis.
Currently, the city has no ambulance service--instead, the void has been filled by the fire department along with any available agency. It's prompted leaders there to place an emergency levy on the upcoming November ballot.
It's a 3.6-mill continuous property tax levy, one that would generate $225,000 per year. Campbell city council president George Levendis says this will be a stop gap until a long-term solution is found. An in-house service would cost anywhere from $1.6 million to $2 million--a luxury that he says the city can't afford.
"It's going to cost roughly $10 per house if your house valued at $100,000--or five dollars if your house is valued at $50,000.", Levendis explained, adding that Emergency Medical Transport; the same company that provides ambulatory services to Youngstown would be the provider if the levy passes.
The city hasn't had an ambulance service since Medstar parted ways a few months ago--back in mid-April--residents were left without service for an entire weekend when employees at Medstar didn't show up for work.
In the meantime--firefighters in Campbell will receive EMT training. The ambulance issue isn't one that's exclusive to Campbell--Levendis says he'd like to see a county-wide approach
"Once we get our guys trained and I have spoken with Anthony Traficanti of the commissioners and he's willing to sit at a table and talk about regionalizing an ambulance service for Mahoning County.", said Levendis.