Photo by Samantha Bryant

Hutto granted a franchise to Capital EMS on May 17 for ambulance service in the city for nonemergency calls.

Fire Chief Scott Kerwood said the ambulance service will prepare the city as more health care facilities and senior housing come to the city, and that there is a need already in the city for people needing transport to clinical care or dialysis treatments.

"I know Williamson County EMS right now is doing those nonemergency transports because there is no one to do them. And that takes them away from emergencies," Kerwood said.

Williamson County EMS serves the City of Hutto, but in April 2011 the city approved an ordinance establishing a franchise requirement for nonemergency ambulance services.

The city will receive 3.5 percent of gross receipts as a franchise payment. Assistant City Manager Micah Grau said Capital EMS will charge the same fees as Williamson County EMS.

The city will review the Capital EMS on a yearly basis, and the five-year agreement begins June 8, according to the document.

"It is a regulated service because these are our citizens that they are potentially transporting," Grau said.