Voters in Buchanan County have overwhelmingly approved creation of a county-run ambulance service, and the quarter-cent sales tax needed to subsidize the service. The vote was the county’s response to Heartland’s announcement to discontinue providing ambulance service by next July.

The final tally was 6,307 “yes,” and 3,165 “no” votes (66.59% to 33.41%).

The margins were closer in the Mid-Buchanan School District, where voters decided to increase the operating levy and but failed to garner enough votes to issue bonds to pay their share of a FEMA safe room grant.

On the operating levy, there were 537 “yes” votes and 403 “no” votes. The bond issue garnered a majority of 536 votes to 405 votes, but that’s just a 56.96% margin, which falls short of the 2/3 majority needed for passage.

A total of 9,475 people cast ballots out of 52,284 eligible voters. That’s a voter turnout of 18.12%, which was somewhat higher than expected.