Issue: Citizens of Jefferson County have the opportunity to vote on whether or not the county should create its own ambulance district. Currently, the county relies on ambulance services from Idaho Falls to cover the area. This doubles the ambulance response time, as it must travel from Idaho Falls before returning with patients to the Idaho Falls hospital. Response time is critical to saving lives, especially in emergency situations involving the heart and brain. If Jefferson County residents approve the creation of a new ambulance district, the cost for full-service ambulance will be about a third of the price that they would otherwise have to pay Bonneville County for continued services. Currently, ambulance first responders are volunteers with the fire department, and they are only allowed to be EMS class responders because of the lack of a local ambulance district. Full-fledged paramedics must be in the jurisdiction of an ambulance district. This means that not only do local first responders in Jefferson county have to choose between keeping their jobs and volunteering, but they also are not allowed to administer drugs and take other life-saving precautions that a paramedic can. Detractors say that the ambulance district would be a new government agency, and they do not want an increase in government.