WYTHE CO., Va. – Wythe County’s new county-wide emergency services program is getting statewide attention — and an award to go with it.
The Virginia Association of Counties recognized 40 local government programs across the state for strengthening public safety, outdoor recreation and quality of life in rural communities. Wythe County’s unified emergency services department was among the winners.
Deputy County Administrator Matthew Hankins said the recognition reflects years of deliberate work.
“It took about two years of planning — took some coordination, planning our funding sources, getting everything right,” Hankins said. “And we’ve been remarkably close in our planning efforts to the results we’ve actually produced.”
Faster response times, better outcomes
The county-wide approach has had a direct impact on emergency response — and in some cases, life-saving results.
“It has made the response times a lot faster and it has made the overall outcomes a lot better,” Hankins said. “We’ve gotten so many positive responses from regional hospitals when our folks have been able to catch things like heart attacks.”
Financial flexibility without raising taxes
Consolidating emergency services into a single county agency also gave Wythe County more financial room to work with — without passing costs on to taxpayers.
“By combining everything into a county agency, we were able to combine the billing,” Hankins said. “We’re able to use some funds from the casino gaming tax that we get from the Bristol Casino. Between those two, we were able to keep our county contribution the same but provide vastly more services.”
The unified structure has also strengthened the county’s position as a regional partner.
“Having a single county agency, having that unified approach gives us the opportunity to present better in terms of going out and finding those grant funds,” Hankins said. “It also makes us a better regional partner. We’re able to shift resources in between county agencies.”
A commitment to continuous improvement
County leaders say the program will continue to evolve as call volume rises. Hankins said a culture of improvement is central to that effort.
“As an administrator, one of the things that bugs me is when people say we’ve always done things that way,” he said. “I want us to get better. I want us to improve. And if we don’t question ourselves, we don’t get there.”
Wythe County also received a second Virginia Association of Counties award for its work creating new access points to the Reed Creek Blueway. That makes Wythe one of five counties in the Commonwealth to receive multiple awards this year — and the only one in Southwest Virginia. The other counties recognized with multiple awards are Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Chesterfield.