Section 311A.155 - Emergency medical services grant program - Trust and agency account - Withholding funds for emergency purposes - Grants to fiscal courts - Administrative regulations - Emergency funding(1) There shall be an emergency medical services grant program to provide funding to each county for the direct operation of emergency medical services, including but not limited to purchase or lease of ambulances or equipment. Funds available shall not be used to fund personnel or consultant salaries.(2) Funds appropriated to or received by the emergency medical services grant program shall be placed in a trust and agency account in the State Treasury and shall not lapse.(3) The board shall administer the emergency medical services grant program and may promulgate administrative regulations, which shall include but not be limited to funding criteria necessary for its implementation and operation.(4) Twenty percent (20%) of the funds received each fiscal year for the grant program may be withheld from general distribution and shall be distributed for emergency purposes only.(5) Grants may be made each fiscal year to each county fiscal court determined to be eligible by the board for distribution to public ambulance services operated by or for the county. A county may keep funds appropriated to them for a period of two (2) years, if desired, for expenditure for authorized purposes. At the end of two (2) years from the date of the receipt of the grant, the county shall return any funds remaining unexpended to the emergency medical services grant fund. Each expenditure made by the fiscal court from grant funds provided to the county shall be documented, with appropriate receipts or other documents, and a copy of each receipt or other document shall be provided to the board to verify that the expenditure was proper. The board shall require reimbursement to the emergency medical services fund by the county, with interest at a rate of twenty percent (20%) annually, for any funds expended for an unauthorized purpose. If the county fails or refuses to reimburse the fund, the board shall notify the Attorney General, who shall seek appropriate civil and criminal remedies.(6) The board shall, annually, by January 1, promulgate administrative regulations specifying items of equipment and other authorized expenditures for the upcoming fiscal year. No funds shall be provided to the county until after the start of the fiscal year.(7) The board may, in the event of a documented situation which the board considers to be an emergency and beyond the ability of the county to pay, provide emergency funding to the fiscal court for an ambulance or authorized equipment which has been damaged or destroyed. Normal replacement of an ambulance or equipment shall not be considered an emergency. The amount of funding that may be provided by the board shall not exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000). Only one (1) emergency funding request shall be granted for any county in each fiscal year. The amount of the emergency grant to the county shall be deducted from the county's grant for the next fiscal year.Effective:7/15/2002
Created 2002, Ky. Acts ch. 211, sec. 28, effective7/15/2002.