Trinidad Ambulance District moves nearly $4 million to InBank

The Trinidad Ambulance District board unanimously approved moving nearly $4 million to InBank, choosing a Trinidad branch on North Convent Street after shopping for a stronger return on public reserves and a banking arrangement that keeps the money close to home. The move, approved May 27, puts a large share of district cash into a local bank at 320 North Convent Street, one of the clearest signs yet that district leaders want public dollars working harder for the service.

For a district that staffs two ambulances 24 hours a day, seven days a week from two stations, the extra earnings matter. TAD’s 2024 needs assessment says Las Animas County covers about 4,775 square miles, the largest county in Colorado, and that scale drives fuel costs, maintenance, staffing pressure and the long-response realities that come with serving ranch country, mountain roads and a county seat that is still far from the hospital care many patients need.

The banking move also lands in the middle of a broader effort to modernize the district’s emergency-care model. On Jan. 28, TAD approved a plan to expand community paramedicine and behavioral-health response, and district leaders have also been pursuing a regional whole-blood transfusion program with the Colorado Whole Blood Coalition. Those projects reflect the same problem: Las Animas County is vast, the calls are getting more complex, and the district is trying to stretch every dollar and every minute before patients reach higher-level care.

The public-money question now is whether the better yield also clears the tests that matter most for a district handling reserve cash. InBank says its deposits are FDIC-insured, but residents still have reason to ask how much money is covered, how quickly the district can access funds for payroll or equipment repairs, and whether trustees compared enough options before settling on a local bank. TAD’s regular board meetings are listed for the fourth Wednesday of each month at 4:00 p.m., giving taxpayers a standing venue to press for those answers.

That scrutiny matters because the district’s future role has already been a subject of debate. County commissioners heard arguments over a proposal to transition TAD into a Health Services District, and Mt. San Rafael Hospital officials opposed it, underscoring that emergency medicine in Las Animas County is still being argued over at the structural level. The nearly $4 million transfer is more than a deposit change, it is part of a wider push by TAD to strengthen its balance sheet while the shape of local EMS continues to evolve.