Commissioners eye rescue squad funding

By Karissa Minn

kminn@salisburypost.com

County staff members aren’t convinced that the Rowan County Rescue Squad needs its requested $68,000 budget increase, but commissioners may consider changing the county’s ambulance ordinance to give it a larger share of revenues.

The rescue squad submitted its request during the fiscal year 2010-11 budget process. The Rowan County Board of Commissioners decided to wait to discuss it as an operational issue rather than a budget issue.

County Board Chairman Carl Ford and Commissioner Jon Barber — the board’s liaison to the rescue squad — met with four county staff members Thursday about the request.

County Manager Gary Page, Finance Director Leslie Heidrick, Emergency Medical Services Division Chief Beth Connell and emergency services training officer Lennie Cooper were present.

At the heart of the matter is peak time service to southern Rowan, which the agency has been providing for the county since November 2009.

Ford said Wednesday he attended a meeting of the rescue squad last summer to talk about slow response times in the southern and eastern parts of the county. The rescue squad agreed to help with service there during the peak hours of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The response times have been reduced by two minutes — “Two minutes is major, and it’s been a blessing,” Ford said — but call volume has not met expectations. Instead of three or four calls per day from that area, the rescue squad is getting only one or two. The agency requested an increase of $68,000 to cover the revenue shortfall.

Ford, Barber and staff members discussed the possibility of bringing the south Rowan peak time EMS service in-house at Thursday’s meeting.

At a previous meeting of the group on Aug. 12 — which also included emergency services director Frank Thomason — Heidrick was asked to compare the costs of using the rescue squad for the southern Rowan service with those of using the county’s own emergency services department.

Heidrick said her calculations of revenues and expenditures in the first six months of 2010 show the rescue squad should finish the year with about $1,900 in excess revenue. According to those calculations, a budget increase wouldn’t be needed to sustain the south Rowan service. “Coyt (Karriker, rescue squad chief) said to me several times, ‘I just want to be able to break even on that route,’ ” Heidrick said.

She said Karriker agrees generally with her numbers but says he took other variables into consideration when judging the shortfall.

At its current funding level, Heidrick said, the rescue squad is a more cost-effective and self-sustaining option for the south Rowan service.

She projected that revenues paid to the rescue squad by the county will total about $65,000. To provide similar response times in the same area, the county’s emergency services department would need about $76,000. Heidrick said the difference is largely due to higher wages for county employees.

In addition, bringing the service in-house would require a one-time cost of $25,000.

“So we’re back to where we were,” Barber said. “Do we keep working with the rescue squad or bring it in-house?”

Page replied, “Overall, it’s cheaper for us to do it with them.”

Another option, Page said, is for commissioners to change the county’s ambulance ordinance that gives ambulance franchises 75 percent of revenues they generate. An increase to 90 percent, for example, would give the rescue squad another estimated $13,000 per year.

“Whether we’re giving more money or taking it in-house, we pay for it either way,” Ford said.

Page said Barber can tell the agency that staff found the south Rowan service should cover its own costs and doesn’t require an increase. If they can live with that, budget discussions will resume next year. If they can’t, commissioners could look at changing the ordinance. “At that point, it would come before the board,” Ford said.

Barber said he didn’t know why this kind of cost analysis wasn’t performed when the rescue squad started providing south Rowan service.

“We should have done this last year,” he said.

“Well, no pun intended, we put a band-aid on it and it worked,” Ford said.

Ford also asked to see the county’s budget for the rescue squad from 2006 through 2011.

Contact Karissa Minn at 704-797-4222.