County panel backs emergency ambulance funds

FAYETTEVILLE — Washington County officials on Tuesday endorsed a request for about $545,000 in emergency funding for Central Emergency Medical Services.

The Quorum Court’s Finance and Budget Committee voted to recommend the full Quorum Court approve an ordinance appropriating the money for the ambulance service.

The board of the Washington County Regional Ambulance Authority, which oversees the operation of Central Emergency Medical Services, voted Aug. 3 to ask the members of the authority to provide $1,043,178 in additional funding. The total is divided among the members, with Washington County being asked to provide $545,140 and Fayetteville being asked to provide $357,454. The other cities’ share of the requested funding ranges from $28,655 for Farmington down to $1,750 from Winslow. Springdale provides its own ambulance service.

The cities and the county provide an annual subsidy to the ambulance service to help offset the costs of operating. The subsidy in 2021 was $1,578,689, and in 2022 the annual subsidy was put at $1,605,838.

According to Steve Harrison, Central EMS chief, the service has an annual budget of about $15 million with the bulk of the revenue coming from payments from Medicare, private insurance and individuals who use the service. Harrison said revenue from all those sources has been decreasing with changes to reimbursement rates from Medicare and Medicaid and private insurance and with an increase in people who are struggling to pay for the service on their own.

Harrison said the covid pandemic contributed to the problem, as did the recent spike in inflation and supply chain issues. Harrison said the service had some “backup funds” in reserve but that started to decrease in 2020 and 2021. As the pandemic continued, he said, the service also began to see a higher turnover rate among its 125 employees, which in turn increased costs through overtime. He said the ambulance service responds to between 450 and 500 calls per week.

Harrison said the cost of medical supplies have increased from 40% to as much as 65%. The recent increase in fuel prices also hit the service hard, with the fuel bill doubling from late 2020 to the middle of 2022.

Willie Leming, justice of the peace for District 13, said he thinks the county may eventually take the ambulance service “under our umbrella” to provide more certainty in funding.

“We can’t lose the ambulance service,” Leming said.

The justices of the peace put off action on a proposed new pay plan for the county after most of the elected officials said they had concerns about how the pay ranges were set.

County Assessor Russell Hill said he was speaking for his office and for the circuit clerk, the county clerk, the collector and the treasurer. Hill said he had an employee who had been with his office less than two months and who would be paid more under the new plan than another employee with six years of experience in the office.

“We’re still training this person and the person who is training them is going to make less,” Hill said. “This new structure is not equitable. How can we justify paying someone who’s been here less than two months more than someone who’s been here for six years?”

Hill said the elected officials were not involved in developing the new pay plan.

“It would’ve been great if we had been part of the process,” Hill said.

Also Tuesday, the committee sent the county’s 2023 budget on to the full Quorum Court for consideration. The Quorum Court is set to meet at 6 p.m. Oct. 20 in the county courthouse.