Crossville (TN) Council Weighs City-Owned Ambulances

Crossville Fire Rescue seal

Serena Vasudeva staff writer
Crossville Chronicle, Tenn.

The Crossville City Council discussed the idea of city-owned ambulances during their retreat at Crossville Shooting Sports Park on Jan. 23.

Councilman Mark Fox came up with the idea of purchasing four ambulances for the fire department.

Presently, the city owns no ambulances and is serviced by the county’s ambulance service. The county’s nine ambulances cover all of Cumberland County and leave the city regularly.

“We as the city of Crossville right now have zero authority in the decision-making process of what prehospital medical care our citizens, visitors and work staff receive. To me, that’s unacceptable,” Fox said.

Crossville Fire Chief Chris South said around 80% of calls to the fire department are medical in nature.

“[Firefighters] are the people who get to the victims first, they’re the people that have access to the victims first, they’re the people who know the mechanism of injury first and are just immediately available to provide the care,” Fox said.

South said that the additional advanced life support would be good for the department, but the vast economics behind it needed to be determined.

While the ambulances would offer a revenue stream, it would not be enough to pay for the equipment and personnel.

Nathan Clouse, city of Crossville finance director, created an estimated budget for the project based on what two places with city-owned ambulances, Martin and Mount Juliet, have paid.

Residents of Martin funded their ambulances using a property tax increase. The city’s ambulances have not paid for themselves over the program’s five years.

Clouse said additional city ambulances in Crossville would cost somewhere between $1.3 million to $2.9 million, leaving a projected loss of $900,000 to $1 million. Property tax would need to be increased by 50-75% to cover the loss, meaning it would jump from 60.59 cents per $100 of assessed value to around a dollar of tax per $100 of assessed value.

If the plan was passed, the city and county could still service each other during emergencies through a mutual aid agreement.

Crossville Mayor RJ Crawford suggested working with the county or within the existing system may be a better option to address concerns as opposed to purchasing city ambulances.

“Until today I have not had anyone complain about what [Councilman Fox] brought up,” Crawford said. “Going through with the YMCA and being the tie-breaking vote, a property tax increase is political suicide.”

Fox pointed out that the YMCA was a divided issue, while most people would agree that they would want themselves or their loved ones to receive the best pre-hospital care possible.

During a phone interview, Fox said the project is in its discussion phase and that it is unclear how the ambulances will be funded.

“I think it’s premature to talk about any funding options at this point. We’re just trying to conceptualize this and see if this is what the residents of Crossville desire,” Fox said.

Ultimately, the council will decide during upcoming meetings whether or not to move forward with the issue.

© 2025 the Crossville Chronicle (Crossville, Tenn.). Visit crossville-chronicle.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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