A fatal accident Sunday near Buffalo, underscored the need for a 10 mile stretch of I-45 to have an ambulance crew readily available.

While no one in North Leon County disagreed one is needed, there was plenty of disagreement on how to pay for it.

Saturday, voters approved the creation of an emergency services district. The approval means property taxes will increase 10 cents per $100 valuation.

Around 30,000 people a day pass through Buffalo on I-45. Add that to the 12,000 people a day on Highway 79, and thats a lot of people to be out of luck if they need an ambulance.

"This is the EMS house," said Kay Rodell.

For three weeks, a Legacy ambulance crew has been staying at Rodell's pool house. The Rodells offered it for free, when Palestine EMS pulled out.

"It was important to us, my husband was in an accident, and he needed an ambulance right away," said Rodell. "The thought of loading him up in a car and trying to carry him off would have been horrible."

That's exactly what residents were told to do in April, in an automated emergency system call that went out to voters the day before the Palestine ambulance left.

"People got afraid, old people were afraid that they were gonna lay out in the road and die and nobody would help them," said James Coker, who lives in Buffalo.

Coker called the call a "scare tactic". He believes voters were scared into paying for the emergency services district.

"If a service has been here 13 years, what's the hurry to leave 30 days before the election? It looks fishy, whether it is or not, it fails the appearance test," said Coker.

Two other votes for an emergency district have failed in previous years.

According to Rodell, the Legacy crew is called out one and sometimes two times a day.

"Nobody likes to pay taxes, but you don't get something for nothing, and this is an important something," said Rodell.

Coker agreed an ambulance is needed. He just wished it didn't cost him an extra $300 a year.

According to Leon County Judge Byron Ryder, Palestine EMS became a separate corporation from Palestine Regional Hospital two years ago. Ryder said until then, profit from the hospital allowed the ambulance crew to work in northern Leon County without subsidy.

Ryder said Palestine EMS notified the county in January that it was no longer making a profit and would be leaving in 90 days. He said that's when the election was hastily called, and not the other way around.

North Leon County is hoping to have a permanent ambulance crew in place by June, one that won't be housed in a pool house.

KBTX previously referred to "emergency notification system" as "reverse 9-1-1" which is a registered trademark of Plant Equipment Inc., dba Plant CML.