The committee, which writes taxes for the Legislature, took testimony Friday on a proposal to impose a 3.3 percent tax on all of Vermont’s 79 ambulance providers. It would be assessed on their revenue from patient care.

Under the current plan, the Department of Vermont Health Access, which acts like an insurance company that facilitates Vermont’s Medicaid program, would collect about $1.2 million from the ambulance providers, according to estimates from the Joint Fiscal Office.

The state would use the revenue to draw down federal money to roughly double that amount. The Department of Vermont Health Access would then use the revenue to increase how much Vermont’s Medicaid program pays ambulance providers for treating Medicaid patients.

The ambulance will be the first new 24-hour ambulance added in about eight years, and is the county's 19th full-time transport ambulance.

"We are still on track to open the truck," Manatee County Public Safety Director Bob Smith said Wednesday.

County commissioners authorized the execution of the shared facilities agreement this week with the Parrish Fire District. The agreement, which still needs to be approved by the Parrish Fire District Commission, will allow EMS to share space within the fire department.

Parrish Fire Department Chief Michael Johnson said there is a lot of community support for the Parrish ambulance.

The new ambulance and related equipment cost $417,785, which is being paid by public safety impact fees. The personnel and operating expenses for the ambulance this year will cost approximately $263,000, which will be paid for by the ambulance charges. For the following full year, it will cost $526,030.

The fire commission is set to take action on the agreement during its April 26 meeting, which begins at 5 p.m. at the fire district, 12132 U.S. 301 North, Parrish.

The 33,757-square-foot facility will be located on Montgomery Road between Bauman and Rowanberry drives. The facility will include six drive-through bays, sleeping quarters for 23 staff, physical training room, kitchen, dining room and an all-purpose emergency preparation. It is now expected to be built by fiscal year 2018, Miller said.

The station replaces a nearly 70-year-old station on Old Washington Road that the community has long outgrown, said Julianna Casey, president of the Elkridge Volunteer Fire Department.

A county study recommended a new site for the Elkridge fire station more than a decade ago. The state also awarded a $500,000 grant to complete the facility.

The county has also asked the volunteer fire department to raise $2.4 million to help finance the project, said Casey.