Karns City ambulance head proposes ‘shared costs’ funding model
As costs continue to rise in the ambulance service business, Karns City Regional Ambulance Service president Mark Lauer recently called together leaders from several northeastern Butler County communities for a conversation about how to best approach the future of emergency calls.
He suggested a “shared costs” model, where all municipalities in the coverage area would pitch in to cover part of the department’s fixed costs, such as fuel and insurance.
“Basically, the municipalities would join together to cover some of the expenses we’re seeing,” Lauer said.
In his pitch to area township and borough leaders at the Fairview Township municipal building on April 28, Lauer estimated that if all municipalities participated in the shared-cost system, it would amount to a contribution of $28 per municipality per call, based on 2025 call volume.
“In 2025, Petrolia Borough had X amount of calls,” Lauer said. “X times 28 would be Petrolia’s share of the cost to help operate the EMS agency.”
But if that seemed too steep, Lauer said, anything would help the service, which juggles calls with limited resources and a thin budget while aiming to move to a location of their own in the coming years.
According to figures provided by the agency, Karns City Regional Ambulance Service spent $23,576 on insurance in 2025, plus $12,709.76 on fuel. Under Lauer’s proposed shared-costs model, municipalities would pitch in to help cover these fixed costs, with each one paying based on calls to their respective areas.
Karns City Regional Ambulance’s regular coverage area consists of Donegal, Fairview, Clearfield, Concord, Washington and Parker townships, as well as the boroughs of Chicora, Karns City, Petrolia, Fairview and Bruin, plus a portion of Armstrong County.
According to statistics provided by Lauer, the agency responded to a total of 1,234 calls in 2025, and 402 calls in the first four months of 2026.
Of the 2025 calls, Donegal Township was responsible for the most, with 303, followed by Fairview Township with 217 and Washington Township with 123. Among those calls are standby for events such as high school football games and the annual North Washington Rodeo.
The shared costs proposition would be in addition to any contributions that municipalities already provide annually, whether in the form of a half-mill EMS tax or another contribution.
Currently, four of the municipalities in Karns City’s coverage area — Parker, Fairview and Donegal townships, and Bruin — maintain a half-mill EMS tax. All other Butler County municipalities in the coverage area other than Petrolia and Chicora make an annual contribution equal to or greater than a half-mill.
According to Lauer, since the seminar, he’s had further discussions with some municipalities regarding the shared-costs model. However, he declined to reveal which ones.
“A couple of them I talked with were very interested in how we could go about doing that,” Lauer said. “So it was a positive outing.”
Another possibility floated by Lauer was the idea of turning the Karns City Ambulance Service into a municipal authority, effectively making emergency medical service a local government-managed utility similar to water, sewer, and stormwater management.
In recent years, similar authority models for emergency medical service have appeared in Indiana County and Lancaster County. In March, just south of Butler County, the Alle-Kiski Emergency Services Authority was formed to serve Harrison Township, Tarentum and Brackenridge.
During the meeting, Lauer admitted that while it was not off the table completely, the authority option was not his preferred course of action due to the prospect of having to bill property owners.
“They just got done doing this in the Tarentum area … and it ended up being $85 per property,” Lauer said.
In addition to funding from and direct municipal contributions, Karns City ambulance service is pursuing state and federal grant funding to offset capital expenditures. The highest-priority expenditure for the ambulance service, according to Lauer, is a new headquarters to replace its present building on Jamison Street in Petrolia.
One means of obtaining grant funding is the Local Share Account, which redirects gaming revenues to support projects in the public interest in Pennsylvania. During Tuesday’s meeting, Lauer also asked municipalities if they could include the ambulance service as part of any grant applications they make for their own municipal projects.
“The ultimate goal here is to find federal, state and local monies to do a building,” Lauer said. “Each of our state representatives has $250,000 this year to do a shared grant program. What better program to put that to than a program that has a positive outcome for every constituent they have in their district?”
Complicating matters is the fact that Karns City ambulance service is currently providing emergency services to Sugarcreek Township in Armstrong County, which is not normally part of its primary coverage area.
Sugarcreek Township has its own EMS agency — Sugarcreek Township Ambulance Service. However, that agency has spent most of 2026 out of service due to a combination of factors, including waiting for a renewal of its EMS license from the state, as well as the recently-concluded Department of Homeland Security shutdown holding up a much-needed grant.
“We're stuck doing their coverage and receive zero compensation for that, which is totally unfair to the municipalities that help pay us,” Lauer said.
