Never saw it coming!

[chazmedic]

My service has been facing a "reorganization" for the past year. We serve a county of 160,000 residents (not counting the cities), one large city of 68,000 residents and 8 small towns with a combined total of 25,000 residents. Roughly 253,000 residents spread out over 1200 square miles. So you end up with three groups interested in this.

One idea was a Public Utility Model. That is now dead. Second, was a City/County Committee. Terminal coma. Enter AMR wanting to take over. Panic by us, the county, and small towns. The big city starts saying that their going to do whatever they want. "Screw you guys. I'm going home." The county judge and the small towns then propose a "interlocal agreement" with the big city.

Then suddenly...this: :shock:

ëIn the broken phaseí

BY ADAM WALLWORTH Northwest Arkansas Times

Posted on Saturday, July 29, 2006

URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/43250/

Washington County Judge Jerry Hunton made his argument Friday for bailing out the failing Central Emergency Medical Services.

Speaking to four mayors at a meeting of the county’s Intergovernmental Cooperation Council, Hunton said the ambulance service, which serves most of the county, is in worse shape than he thought it was when he began looking into it a year ago.

“ I think we’re already in the broken phase of this thing, ” Hunton said.

Mayors Dan Coody of Fayetteville, Sonny Hudson of Prairie Grove, Dick Long of Johnson and Henry Buchanan of Lincoln were receptive to Hunton’s proposal to work together to find a solution for providing ambulance service in the county.

A joint committee made up of members of the Fayetteville City Council and Washington County Quorum Court have been looking at options for providing a long-term solution to ambulance service in the county. The group has been discussing the possibility of creating an interlocal agreement to run the service and establishing a per-resident tax to fund it.

During the last committee meeting, members discussed a potential tax of $ 10 per person for the cities, with the county chipping in $ 15 per person. Fayetteville’s representatives were not receptive to the prospect of increasing the city’s subsidy of the service from $ 250, 000 to $ 670, 000.

Hunton said he wanted to bring the mayors into the conversation because the committee is not making much progress. He said he supports creating the interlocal agreement, which would include replacing the Central EMS board of directors with a three-member committee, which would represent Fayetteville, the county and the small towns.

The option of asking companies to bid on the service right now is something Hunton opposes. He said he is biased toward Central EMS because it is a local company and he wouldn’t trust private companies’ bids for the service unless Central EMS could also bid.

However, Hunton said, because of existing debt, capital needs and other financial difficulties, Central EMS would not be able to bid on the service right now. He said he would like to see the governments bail out Central EMS and wait until this time next year before deciding whether to request bids on the service.

Hunton said helping Central EMS become financially stable would bring honesty to any bidding process that may occur.

Coody said that in light of budgetary issues, such as salary and benefit increases that could come out of an ongoing compensation study, the city is sensitive to the potential costs of the partnership. He said that while he supports working with the other communities and county, there is a concern about the potential subsidy.

Hugh Earnest, a consultant working on the ambulance service, presented the group with updated estimates of the per-person tax, which included a $ 550, 000 contribution from the county, which reflects the $ 15-per-person charge.

The schedule included potential revenue that could be generated by a $ 3 to $ 7 charge, based on population estimates from the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission. The schedule showed Fayetteville with a population of 69, 000, which would result in an annual charge of $ 207, 000 to $ 483, 000.

Long supported helping Central EMS and wanted more information on how much it would take to cover the service, as well as capital needs and debt.

Earnest said that while there is not an official budget estimate for next year, it would likely take around $ 4 per person, though that would not include debt. Debt reduction could likely cost another $ 1 per person, he said.

Coody said that while he might support the interlocal agreement, he would not support only focusing on saving Central EMS because there can be no “ sacred cows. ”

Any bids can be rejected, Coody said, but it may be possible to get more financially sustainable ambulance service from a different provider.

Earnest will present a memo of what the interlocal agreement would entail to the Fayetteville City Council at its Aug. 15 meeting.

Copyright © 2001-2006 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved. Contact: webmaster@nwanews.com

I think we're screwed.

This is the first any employees have heard this. Two days prior to this coming out we had a staff meeting where we were told everything is fine, we're just in a holding pattern.

[AZCEP]

Some of the clues had to be there, right?

Existing debt, capital needs, and other financial difficulties? Is that manager speak for I need a new car/office/house, but this agency doesn't bring in enough money to let me buy them?

Sounds like this has been going on a while. It is just now reaching a point of no return. Good luck to you.

[chazmedic]

[AZCEP]

Ugly situation all around.

Almost sounds like someone is in bed with AMR to allow this to happen. Destroy the current provider, AMR comes in with a low-bid, and looks like a hero. Unfotunate, but not unheard of.

Sounds like a similar situation to the one in Louisville.

[Ridryder 911]

You will start seeing this trend even more so in community based EMS. The cities are looking for any cheap avenue to get rid of any debt or even potential debt. I too have seen EMS in cities even making a profit been ditched because this is one less thing the city, or community has to deal with. Allowing privatization to occur to remove the city responsibility or headache.

Seriously, folks the community really don't care about the details of EMS. As long as their is an orange/white vehicle (or any color) and someone that has a few patches and met the "states requirements" is all they care about. The bottom line is more money for budget and less responsibility.

R/r 911