BY MURRAY BISHOFF Special to the Cassville Democrat

Voters in Barry and Lawrence counties continued to look favorably at ambulance service as they approved a half-cent increase in the sales tax supporting the Barry-Lawrence Ambulance District on April 8.

The measure had slim support in both counties, both enough to swing the measure. With a 132-122 vote in Lawrence County, and 257212 in Barry County, the measure passed with nearly 54 percent of the vote.

The Barry-Lawrence Ambulance District extends from Butterfield to Freistatt, and from west of Verona to rural Newton County.

This amounted to the fourth win at the polls for bi-county ambulance districts.

The South Barry County Ambulance District south of Butterfield successfully passed a sales tax and an increase, and now so has Barry-Lawrence. Prior to that, passing sales taxes in Barry County, both for the county and for central dispatching, took several tries.

David Compton, vice chairman and longest-serving member of the Barry-Lawrence board of directors, was pleased with the result.

“The board appreciates the support of the public and is looking forward to investing the additional tax dollars in upgrading the district facilities and equipment,” he said.

Lee Flory, operations manager, said he was “extremely happy” with the outcome.

“My number one concern is trucks,” he said. “We’ve had too many breakdowns and searched high and low for a loaner. We have three running now, and our backup trucks are all in the shop.

“Hopefully we can get all our trucks lined out and do something with this building, [the district’s headquarters at 307 Dairy St. in Monett, unchanged since it was constructed in 2001]. We can’t get as many in here as we’d like when we’re teaching. It gets elbow to elbow. We’d like to have another substation in the area.”

The sales tax increase will double revenues over a full year. Additional funds should begin arriving in October, boosting annual operating funds from sales tax to around $1.9 million.