WING, N.D. (KXNET) — Emergency services are a vital part of keeping our communities safe and protected.

However, some towns in North Dakota are not populated enough to have their own. That’s why the Wilton Ambulance Service is expanding its territory to Wing — a neighboring small town.

Wing’s Ambulance services stopped on January 31 of this year — when the State stepped in to give that portion of territory to Wilton’s services. The Wilton Ambulance District voted on whether or not the district would annex the new joint ambulance services on Tuesday. The Ambulance Service’s, Paul Shauer, says they are hoping for the results to come back with a ‘yes.’

“Right now, the Wing half of the district does not have a mill levy,” Shauer explained. “So, they’re not contributing financially to the operations of the district. For those people over on the eastern half, of the Wing part of the new district, this is a bit of a burden — of course, because it’s a mill levy that they don’t have right now, but it’s what’s required to keep the ambulance in operation,”

Even if the votes come out ‘No’, the Wilton Ambulance Service says it will still provide services to the neighboring community of Wing — but the costs will not be shared across the district.

Schauer says that it would be unfair if the vote does come back as a ‘No.’

“Why are we having to pay for the eastern half of the district to have essentially free ambulance services?” questioned Shauer. “Wouldn’t it be fair to the whole district if everybody was chipping in? And that’s how we look at it. We’re asking everyone in the district to chip in and pay their fair share to operate the ambulance district.”

Schauer said that this half-and-half concept is new to both them and to Wing and that additional territory adds to everyone’s anxiety as to whether or not they will be able to keep up with the needed services — but also, that the Wilton Ambulance Service will do their best to cover it.