The DeWitt County Board made the decision Monday night to move forward with a referendum to put on the March ballot for a tax increase to support an ambulance service in DeWitt County.

Clinton Mayor Carolyn Peters has approached the County Board to sek approval for the tax levy to continue ambulance services in DeWitt County, following the announcement that the City owned Dr. John Warner Hospital will now not be providing the service any longer. DeWitt County Board member Terry Ferguson believes from a majority of his fellow Board members the consensus was the ambulance service is one of the more important services in the community.

[audio:boardmeeting1.mp3]Word from Ferguson[/audio]

While the final vote by the board was unanimous, according to Ferguson, no one spoke out in opposition of moving forward with the referendum. Ferguson feels it needs to be up to the residents of the county to decide whether this is something they want.

[audio:boardmeeting2.mp3]Word from Ferguson[/audio]

While Ferguson gave a "Yes" vote to moving forward with the referendum, he hopes the work is not done. He says there are still questions lingering needing an answer and he feels the voters need to have more details in regards to the levy and where the money is going to go.

[audio:boardmeeting3.mp3]Word from Ferguson[/audio]

The referendum moves to the March ballot, should the referendum get voted down, individual municipalities in DeWitt County will still have a small window of opportunity to find ways to fund an ambulance service with a deadline of December 31, 2012 when the DJWH will no longer provide the service.