Reserves may ‘buy time’, EMS funding now crucial

Ways to continue funding the ambulance service, acquiring the EMS Base property and EMS Fee for Service Ordinance were discussed at the regular monthly meeting of the Ken-Tenn EMS Board held March 19, at the EMS Base in Fulton.

An EMS Fee for Service Ordinance in the process of formation by Cubb Stokes, Kevin Kelley, Gunn and Martin, was reported to not yet be where they wanted it to be.

Martin said, “We got bad information from the folks in Frankfort. They were saying the Campbell County Lawsuit came out of a similar ordinance, where the ordinance didn’t have a basis in law. They went to court and sued and the Supreme Court said this is the reason why it didn’t figure into the statutes that made everything legal. We met Monday, Stokes, Gunn, and myself, with attorneys from KaCO and Kentucky League of Cities, and Vince Lane. The attorneys had already received a copy and looked at it, and basically summed up we can do the Ordinance. Should we do it and someone sues us, it will be a three to five year process through the court system. If the findings were found for the plaintiff, not us, we would be ordered to pay back all the money we had collected totaling up to $3 - $5 million. This was an unacceptable risk in our mind.”

Gunn stated, “It was brought out it may not be your local county that sues you.”

Martin said, “We came up with a plan, to get back with the Legislators. I told Steven Rudy and Stan Humphries, who said they could put a bill before the legislature, we don’t have time. This summer we will be out of money. Come July 1, we may be out of the ambulance business.”

“We need to pursue the Legislative commission to where we can do the Ordinance, and find a way to keep the ambulance service going until the Legislature occurs. This seems to be the strategy we came away with. Research is already being done for the Legislature and going before the committee to research what other committees are doing,” Martin said.

“It goes back to the Attorney General’s opinion that the Ambulance Service is not necessary,” stated Gunn.

Legislation is over for this year, so it will be July 2020 before any ruling can be made.

Board members present were David Gallagher, Jim Martin, Heath Carlton, Mike Gunn, Hugh Caldwell and David Weatherly. Amelia Prather and Pete Algee were absent.

Martin continued, “We sat down and discussed options for collecting revenues for the ambulance service, and none of it is tasteful. We talked about payroll taxes, net profit taxes, insurance premium tax. A lot of lower income people, their cost would go down. Their insurance premium tax would go up, but the $10 a month they pay each month would be enough of a net gain. That sounded pretty good, but wait, where will the money come from. You would have to take a look at the big investors of the community – today and in the future. It would have a tremendous impact on them. We look at one entity, they would go from $40 per month to $400 - $500 per month, because of the way the math works.”

It was reported the schools, cities, and county with their properties, all the “big people”, and the agriculture people and the insurance they pay on their equipment, has not been worked out yet, but is one of the things the committee has discussed.

Martin said, “We took two approaches. One is how much do we have to increase everyone that is now paying on the water bill to get us to stay afloat, or create an insurance premium tax.”

“There are 799 customers in the county that should be paying for ambulance service, and only 329 are paying. If you look at just the residential meters, on those paying, that would generate $816,000 at $15 per month, and if you change to $17 per month, that would give you $906,000. If you take the paying meters in South Fulton and all the other meters we know in Fulton County at $15 per month, that would produce about $986,000,” continued Martin.

“If we agree everything is not OK, we need to tell the people,” stated Martin.

“When it comes to the Ordinance, South Fulton is our best partner on all this and this will not effect them at all, they can continue to do whatever they want to do. It only affects the residents of Fulton County,” continued Martin.

Gallagher asked, “We’re looking at insurance collections at about $600,000? We have to have $1.5 million, so if you collect $906,000, we still need $904,000. We still have a shortfall.”

Gunn stated, “That is the subsidy we need to provide for.”

“If we are going to do this, we need to do it correct the first time,” stated Gallagher.

“Fulton County’s insurance premium tax rate would be double of most communities, at 6%. This could set Fulton County back in being competitive to get industry,” Martin said.

Fulton County serves about 14,000 people from the two EMS stations in Fulton and Hickman.

Gunn stated, “We did a good job when we first started this and I think we have to go out there and tell them you have a choice, either we have to do something and get the revenues up or we will have to close the ambulance. It is the only choice we have.”

“The proposed Ordinance would make everyone pay, this is part of the problem. Every one is not paying. Cubb said he has people come in the office all the time saying they are not paying it,” said Martin.

Kelley said, “When you put this out to the public, you will have a slap to the face and the repercussions when the service is not here, repercussions from the businesses and industries. If they have the notion another service will come and get them, it is not going to happen.”

It was reported approximately 33% of Fulton County residents are not paying, and South Fulton is paying about 90%.

Gallagher said, “We need to figure out a way to present it to the public. I propose we have a public meeting at the city halls and Fiscal Court and invite people. We have to do this to support the ambulance.”

“The people who need to hear this do not show up,” stated Gunn.

“That is why we have the press here, to put the comments out for the public. We have to act. You have one chance to do it right. We have to decide which plan we want. We have an ambulance service. We are indebted to it. The ambulance needs to exist,” Gallagher said.

Kelley said, “You have Changes here in Fulton and I had to go and sign an agreement with her that we would cover her emergencies. Let the County loose the jail.”

“Failure is not an option,” Weatherly stated.

Milton Dean said, “There are some reserves that will buy some time, but we don’t need to set our goal based on reserves. We need to set the goal based on not using the reserve.”

Gallagher asked, “Have we decided to go to $17 per month on the residential water bills? Do we need to put that to a vote?”

Gunn asked, “How do we propose that? Do we send it to the cities to approve putting on the water bills?”

Martin said, “We don’t say anything to anyone until we are done, and disclose to the public.”

“We want everything out in the open, but we have to have a plan to present and we don’t have that just yet,” Gallagher said.

“We want to charge the committee to go back and look at the commercial and industrial breakdown. Look at schools and churches,” continued Gallagher.

A committee comprised of Fulton City Manager Mike Gunn, Hickman City Mayor Heath Carlton, a South Fulton City representative, and the County Judge/Executive Jim Martin will look at the numbers and collection rates, and decide on the commercial and industrial rate. The committee will come back in a Special Called Meeting April 2, at 4 p.m., at the Ken-Tenn EMS Base in Fulton to present to the Board.

Martin stated, “I contacted the owners of the EMS Base in Fulton about purchasing the property. The building needs work and we didn’t want to do any work unless we own it. I said we would buy it for a small amount of money, but nothing over $20,000. We would really like you to consider gifting it to us and take a tax benefit. They responded by asking if we gift it to you, would you be interested in taking two other properties. I said we would like to see a proposal, and we are waiting for a proposal. One of the other properties might be the old Hillview Hospital.”

The Financial Report showed the Ambulance service has assets of $1,367,916.99 and Liabilities and Fund Balance of $1,367,916.66.

A one-time donation of $39,127.60 was received from Dura Corporation. When Dura filed bankruptcy for restructuring, part of the agreement was that in all communities they left, a trust had to be established. The trust had matured and they were ready to make the payments. The Director’s Report included runs being down from projections, but collections up from projections.

An issue was reported with Well Care, the same as Medicare had, when the ambulance service started up, with 32 tickets for $32,000 appealed and Well Care indicating they will not go back and pay, resulting in a write-off.

There were 178 calls for service in February. The Fulton Station had 119 calls, and Hickman Station, 58.

Currently the ambulance service is collecting $408 per run.