PAUL ARDEN: Don't buy into cost warning

Riggs ambulance would like to make us all believe that if the Merced County Board of Supervisors selects AMR that every citizen in the county will be charged $2,700. The reality is that 92 percent of county residents will never need an ambulance. That means over the life of AMR's contract, 92 percent of us will pay more for cable, garbage pickup and water than we will for emergency ambulance services. For the 8 percent who are transported, half will not pay anything and almost all the rest will have the service covered under some form of insurance.

Time for a reality recap: Riggs is not local, they will operate fewer ambulances and employ fewer paramedics and only 8 percent of us will ever pay for improved emergency services provided by AMR. The 8 percent who do need it may owe their lives to having a better EMS system.

PAUL ARDEN Gustine