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City Council hears first of two competing plans for ambulance service
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By Kris Hilgedick
khil@newstribune.com
Jefferson City Council members on Monday contemplated a plan that would allow the city Fire Department to take over the operation of ambulance service within the city, in an effort to meet a hospital-recommended timeline.
Citing financial losses, hospital officials have said they'd like to be out of the ambulance business by January.
The city's proposal would require city officials to raise property taxes.
The plan met with doubt from Regional West Fire Chief Jack Brade and Western District Commissioner Chris Wrigley, who said the county plans to reveal an alternate proposal on Thursday morning.
Monday night's meeting was the council's first look at the mayor's budget proposal. The ambulance conversation looms because city officials face a state-imposed deadline requiring them to either adjust their tax rates by Sept. 1 or wait two years.
Landwehr said: “Bottom line, I'm concerned about the community's safety. We have a moral obligation to provide this vital emergency service and have a viable plan in place.
“We felt it was necessary to be in a position to provide this service.”
Currently the city's property tax rate is 46 cents per $100 of assessed valuation; but officials may raise it to the 54-cent, voter-approved “ceiling.”
The plan is divided into two parts. The first offers a plan for ambulance service within the city; the second part would serve the rest of Cole County.
Under the city's plan, the fire department would provide Advanced Life Support (ALS) service within the corporate city limits. Five ambulances would be stationed at city facilities and staffed by a combination of paramedics and EMTs.
Jefferson City Fire Chief Bob Rennick said the new system would be patterned after Capital Region's model.
The city generates about 7,000 calls a year.
The plans also includes ideas for a “County-Wide Cooperative Ambulance Service,” providing residents the level of service they have now.
How to pay for it would be determined by the fire protection districts and county government.
Serving the rural areas is expected to cost $1 million annually, but collections are estimated at $600,000.
Two ambulances would be stationed in the rural areas (currently trucks are at Apache Flats and Brazito) and a third would be held in reserve.
But devising a source of revenue - to cover an $800,000 shortfall the hospital says it incurs - has been a source of consternation for local government leaders.
Most ambulance providers across the state and nation say private entities no longer can make a go of the ambulance business based on income alone; some sort of governmental subsidy is necessary.
City Administrator Steve Rasmussen pitched a plan that would combine two basic pools of funding: billing for service and property taxes.
City financial officials believe a five-cent property tax would generate adequate funding to keep an ambulance service operational in the city limits. But eight cents may be necessary - at least in the beginning - to cover the start-up of a new venture.
“Three cents would help offset capital costs,” he suggested.
Rasmussen's plan includes asking Capital Region if the city can purchase some of their ambulances.
“The sooner we buy them, the cheaper they are,” he reckoned. “Because you (the hospital) stop losing money as soon as you give them to us.”
City officials estimate a five-cent property tax increase would cost the owner of a $120,000 home 95 cents a month.
But Fifth Ward Councilman Dan Klindt would not support a property tax increase, favoring a sales tax instead.
Under the city's plan, elected officials could provide ambulance coverage for the community without approaching the voters.
Under other plans being circulated, the voters would have to be educated and persuaded to accept a new tax.
When other ambulance districts have been organized in Missouri, they have always started with a 30-cent property tax levy.
After Monday's meeting, Brade favored a countywide system. “My biggest concern is the community has a say in the level of community service they receive,” he said.
He also worried about the possibility of duplicating service with separate systems. Brade believes hospital administrators could be persuaded to give community leaders more time. “As long as they see progress being made,” he said.
Ed Farnsworth, president of Capital Region Medical Center, said the January 2009 date is “not a deadline.”
Instead it was a “reasonable” date set by those who realized it was “going to take some time to find a solution.”
“We really would like (community leaders) to find a solution, but we're not going to leave them in a lurch,” he said.
Farnsworth added he is pleased the city may attempt a solution by 2009. “And the county - it's important the entire area's needs are met,” he said.
Farnsworth worried a voter-approved ambulance district would take at least a year to be put in place, even with a February election. Having a new entity in place by January 2010 or even 2011 wasn't unrealistic, he said.
But would the hospital wait that long to give voters time to weigh in?
“Yes, if it's the desire of the community,” Farnsworth added.
But Rasmussen said one disadvantage of a countywide system is that it is more expensive to serve residents in the remote parts of the county. (The runs are much longer, consuming more fuel and staff time.)
Rasmussen worried that city payers may end up subsidizing rural payers, if operators of the system try to establish the same response times for urban and rural residents.
Wrigley said the city's plan “was not my first choice.”
“From the get-go, it's always been thought this would be a countywide operation,” he said. “I think there's another way, other than an ambulance district.”
But on Monday afternoon, he would not offer details about it.
Wrigley said on Thursday, county commissioners would share a plan that would not include a 30-cent property tax nor a waiting period. “We think we have a solution for that too,” he added.
“We're trying to figure out the best way to provide the best service to the county as a whole,” he said.
Citing financial losses, hospital officials have said they'd like to be out of the ambulance business by January.
The city's proposal would require city officials to raise property taxes.
The plan met with doubt from Regional West Fire Chief Jack Brade and Western District Commissioner Chris Wrigley, who said the county plans to reveal an alternate proposal on Thursday morning.
Monday night's meeting was the council's first look at the mayor's budget proposal. The ambulance conversation looms because city officials face a state-imposed deadline requiring them to either adjust their tax rates by Sept. 1 or wait two years.
Landwehr said: “Bottom line, I'm concerned about the community's safety. We have a moral obligation to provide this vital emergency service and have a viable plan in place.
“We felt it was necessary to be in a position to provide this service.”
Currently the city's property tax rate is 46 cents per $100 of assessed valuation; but officials may raise it to the 54-cent, voter-approved “ceiling.”
The plan is divided into two parts. The first offers a plan for ambulance service within the city; the second part would serve the rest of Cole County.
Under the city's plan, the fire department would provide Advanced Life Support (ALS) service within the corporate city limits. Five ambulances would be stationed at city facilities and staffed by a combination of paramedics and EMTs.
Jefferson City Fire Chief Bob Rennick said the new system would be patterned after Capital Region's model.
The city generates about 7,000 calls a year.
The plans also includes ideas for a “County-Wide Cooperative Ambulance Service,” providing residents the level of service they have now.
How to pay for it would be determined by the fire protection districts and county government.
Serving the rural areas is expected to cost $1 million annually, but collections are estimated at $600,000.
Two ambulances would be stationed in the rural areas (currently trucks are at Apache Flats and Brazito) and a third would be held in reserve.
But devising a source of revenue - to cover an $800,000 shortfall the hospital says it incurs - has been a source of consternation for local government leaders.
Most ambulance providers across the state and nation say private entities no longer can make a go of the ambulance business based on income alone; some sort of governmental subsidy is necessary.
City Administrator Steve Rasmussen pitched a plan that would combine two basic pools of funding: billing for service and property taxes.
City financial officials believe a five-cent property tax would generate adequate funding to keep an ambulance service operational in the city limits. But eight cents may be necessary - at least in the beginning - to cover the start-up of a new venture.
“Three cents would help offset capital costs,” he suggested.
Rasmussen's plan includes asking Capital Region if the city can purchase some of their ambulances.
“The sooner we buy them, the cheaper they are,” he reckoned. “Because you (the hospital) stop losing money as soon as you give them to us.”
City officials estimate a five-cent property tax increase would cost the owner of a $120,000 home 95 cents a month.
But Fifth Ward Councilman Dan Klindt would not support a property tax increase, favoring a sales tax instead.
Under the city's plan, elected officials could provide ambulance coverage for the community without approaching the voters.
Under other plans being circulated, the voters would have to be educated and persuaded to accept a new tax.
When other ambulance districts have been organized in Missouri, they have always started with a 30-cent property tax levy.
After Monday's meeting, Brade favored a countywide system. “My biggest concern is the community has a say in the level of community service they receive,” he said.
He also worried about the possibility of duplicating service with separate systems. Brade believes hospital administrators could be persuaded to give community leaders more time. “As long as they see progress being made,” he said.
Ed Farnsworth, president of Capital Region Medical Center, said the January 2009 date is “not a deadline.”
Instead it was a “reasonable” date set by those who realized it was “going to take some time to find a solution.”
“We really would like (community leaders) to find a solution, but we're not going to leave them in a lurch,” he said.
Farnsworth added he is pleased the city may attempt a solution by 2009. “And the county - it's important the entire area's needs are met,” he said.
Farnsworth worried a voter-approved ambulance district would take at least a year to be put in place, even with a February election. Having a new entity in place by January 2010 or even 2011 wasn't unrealistic, he said.
But would the hospital wait that long to give voters time to weigh in?
“Yes, if it's the desire of the community,” Farnsworth added.
But Rasmussen said one disadvantage of a countywide system is that it is more expensive to serve residents in the remote parts of the county. (The runs are much longer, consuming more fuel and staff time.)
Rasmussen worried that city payers may end up subsidizing rural payers, if operators of the system try to establish the same response times for urban and rural residents.
Wrigley said the city's plan “was not my first choice.”
“From the get-go, it's always been thought this would be a countywide operation,” he said. “I think there's another way, other than an ambulance district.”
But on Monday afternoon, he would not offer details about it.
Wrigley said on Thursday, county commissioners would share a plan that would not include a 30-cent property tax nor a waiting period. “We think we have a solution for that too,” he added.
“We're trying to figure out the best way to provide the best service to the county as a whole,” he said.
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truthbetold wrote on Aug 26, 2008 5:39 PM:
Bondage Boy, I think you should heed your own advice. This isn't a forum to bash people. I don't think you should be bad mouthing the poor city firemen (in your other little comments from other stories), its really not their fault that you are upset. "