Mayor releases statement on ambulance service

Last updated: August 25, 2026

VICKSBURG, Miss. (VDN) — Mayor Willis Thompson signed an agreement Tuesday for the City of Vicksburg to provide ambulance transportation services for Vicksburg’s hospital, an arrangement projected to put the City’s ambulance operation in a surplus for the first time since Vicksburg began providing the service in 1969.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen authorized the agreement during its regular meeting Tuesday. Under the nonexclusive agreement, the Vicksburg Fire Department will provide emergency and nonemergency hospital transports, including basic life support, advanced life support, and specialty-care transportation. The City will bill patients and their insurers for eligible transports. The hospital will compensate the City for certain transports that cannot legally be billed to a patient or insurer, including qualifying transports involving uninsured patients.

“This agreement is projected to move our ambulance operation into a surplus for the first time since the City began providing the service,” Thompson said. “It’s a major step toward strengthening the City’s finances while continuing to deliver an essential public service. It’s a practical agreement that makes sense for the hospital, the City, and the people we serve.”

Revenue generated through the agreement will help support the Vicksburg Fire Department personnel, vehicles, equipment, and other resources required to provide ambulance service. Vicksburg is among a limited number of Mississippi municipalities that operate their own ambulance service.

“This is what building a safer, stronger, smarter Vicksburg looks like,” Thompson said. “We’re creating additional opportunities for our dedicated fire department employees, generating new revenue, and applying sound business practices to improve city government.”