Looking for light...Ambulance fees chip at county’s $1.9 million shortfall

Written by Byron Hensley | 06 July 2010

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Coffee County’s budget situation for the 2010-11 fiscal year may be less bleak than previously predicted. The county had been estimated to be facing a $1.9 million deficit in costs over revenues, with an $873,000 shortfall in the ambulance service budget contributing to that. The deficit is now estimated to be closer to $1.5 million. The projected ambulance shortfall was re-estimated to about $226,000 when additional revenue from the new Tullahoma ambulance station was figured in. Putting the station online and keeping it staffed full time will enable county ambulances to accept more calls to transport patients from Harton Medical Center in Tullahoma to hospitals in Nashville, Emergency Medical Services Board Chairman Jimmy Davis told the Coffee County Commission’s Budget & Finance Committee.
“It’s certainly not a zero deficit, but it’s headed in the right direction,” said Commissioner Rush Bricken, a committee member, on hearing the adjusted deficit figure. “One day I want us to be in the position where the county can borrow money from the ambulance service.”
Bradford said without the additional ambulance on call, the county has to turn down at least around 20 transport calls a month. Each such call the county could respond to would, at current rates for typical calls, give the service an additional $510 in revenue, plus $10 per mile driven. The Tullahoma station, when it opens, will give the county four stations and 36 personnel to keep ambulances running 24 hours a day, he said.
The EMS board is also looking at increasing the fees it charges for calls, although higher revenues from higher fees have not been calculated into the EMS budget. The service is considering increasing fees by $25 or $50 per call. Bradford said the last time the service increased its fee was two years ago. A $50 increase could potentially raise ambulance revenues by about 10 percent, he said.
Ambulance calls have been on the rise, with the service increasing its runs by about 800 this year over last year, Bradford said. As of Thursday, the day of the meeting, the service had answered 6,246 calls for the current budget year, he said.
Even with the better news about EMS revenues, the budget committee, reluctant to propose a property tax increase, is still looking to decrease county costs. The committee on Tuesday asked Budget Director Marianna Eddinger to contact departments and request they submit revised budgets using last year’s original appropriations, but decreasing those figures by 2.5 percent. The committee is hoping to be able to submit a budget to the full commission when it meets July 13.
Committee Chairman Ted Frisby noted that there are a number of factors impacting the budget. When U.S. Census figures come in, pay for county officials, according to state mandate, will have to be adjusted to reflect higher population numbers, retroactively. The county will also have to pay the first installment on its settlement of the Tullahoma lawsuit, $250,000. The commission has also been informed that the county will be required to build a new jail in the near future.