OCALA, Fla. — Marion County is getting a new Emergency Medical Services (EMS) station. 

Marion County Fire Rescue broke ground on the new facility earlier this week. It will be ready to serve the public come next year. 

Officials say it's something the county has needed for a long time — an added resource benefiting both residents and EMS employees.

Deputy Fire Chief Rodney Mascho has been working for years to get a new building after fire department and EMS merged in 2008. The current Marion County EMS Station is the old juvenile detention center from the 1960s.

"We always wanted to have a real station for them. It’s just taken that time of finding the right property and working with folks to get there. Coming up with a design that meets our needs," Mascho says.

Mascho is now looking through renderings of the new facility, excited about what this means for both his EMS employees as well as the people they serve.

"We’re looking at it from both perspectives, what’s going to provide good living conditions for our employees because they’re out there serving the public, but that’s going to increase that patients comfort and certainly makes their experience and getting that ride to the hospital not as horrible during their emergency," he says.

The new building is being paid for by the Penny Sales Tax. The tax was approved by voters in 2015 and started collecting money at the beginning of 2016. It’ll include an additional four ambulances, having nine crew members in total. It’ll also have upgraded features such as enclosed garages for the ambulances, as well as added space for the growing area.

"The size of the facility was certainly driven by growth, we needed a real facility to replace what we’re in now, but we went with a size large enough to accommodate that growth," Mascho said.

As construction continues, Marion County Fire Rescue hopes to switch facilities next fall. The new facility will help Ocala and areas outside the city limits.