Fallon County commissioners voted unanimously to approve paying emergency medical technicians a taxable hourly wage when they teach local certification classes. The county’s action authorizes managers to record instructor hours and pay employees at the wage rate agreed by the board, instead of treating instructor time as an unpaid stipend.

Commissioners approved a motion to permit hourly pay for EMT instructors; the board recorded a unanimous voice vote. The decision follows several weeks of department discussion over whether instructor time should be treated as a stipend, a wage, or compensated through existing on‑call pay. County staff had proposed a model that tracks hours on time sheets and pays an hourly rate set by the board for instruction nights and supervised skills sessions.

Why it matters: Fallon County’s EMS program relies heavily on local personnel to run initial certification courses and supplemental skill sessions. Commissioners said formalizing pay will make planning and recruitment easier, and that the county will continue to allow instructors to be on call for emergency runs while teaching. The board directed staff to implement payroll tracking procedures tied to established pay periods.

How it will work: Instructors who are county employees will be paid an hourly wage for time spent teaching, with their instructional hours recorded on time sheets. If an instructor is on call and gets called to a run while teaching, the teaching pay ends and the on‑call/run pay applies for the duration of the call. The board instructed staff to work with payroll and human resources to ensure accurate record keeping and compliance with state payroll rules.

Next steps: The commissioners directed county payroll and HR staff to add a training‑instructor pay line to the payroll system and provide a short procedure for instructors and supervisors to record teaching hours. The board asked EMS management to return to the commissioners if the program requires additional budget adjustments.

Details: The motion and vote occurred during a regular meeting in June, after EMS leadership outlined the time commitment and the training schedule the new instructors will cover. Commissioners emphasized the change is to compensate documented teaching time; it does not alter other pay rules such as overtime or on‑call compensation.

Ending: County staff said they will publish a short guidance memo for instructors and supervisors before the next scheduled class so the pay procedures are in place when the summer training sessions begin.