EMS budget healthy in spending, revenue

Tuesday, June 9, 2009
By John I. Carney

Bedford County Emergency Medical Services is still on track to do better than its budget, both in spending and revenue, board members heard Monday night.

Bedford County government has cut off budget amendment requests as of May 15 and is only allowing emergency or essential deviations from budgeted spending.

At the end of May, with 91.30 percent of the fiscal year ended, BCEMS had spent only 87.35 percent of its budget and had brought in 98.25 percent of its projected revenue. BCEMS Assistant Director Michael Clements said the agency will probably exceed its budgeted line item for medical waste disposal and will have to ask for an amendment to account for that, but its overall spending will remain within budget.

County finance officials did vote last month to allow BCEMS to spend up to $32,000 of its extra revenue on an ambulance chassis. Changes in environmental regulations will make the type of diesel chassis used by BCEMS unavailable, or at least much harder to find, over the next year, and so the chassis is being bought in preparation for a future "chassis changeover," in which the box containing the medical service functions of an ambulance is moved from its old truck chassis onto a new one.

Bids on the changeover were received by the county finance department. Clements said the only bid received, from Shelbyville-based SelecTech, which specializes in chassis changeovers -- was within the budgeted amount. He said the chassis won't actually be purchased until after the new fiscal year begins July 1.

There's no indication when the rest of the money for a changeover -- an estimated $37,000 to actually do the work -- will be available.

Clements said the existing ambulances have had "some major maintenance issues" in recent weeks, but fortunately they have been covered by warranty.

Clements reported to the board in the absence of Director Chad Graham, who is ill. He said the decline in fuel costs since the budget was developed last year has benefitted the department.

"Fortunately," he said, "it didn't stay at $4 per gallon."

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perhaps the time has come for the fire service to take a que from our excellent EMS department and be placed under their umbrella and proven management. Place a paid or paid-volunteer fire-safety person and rescue unit into each of the EMS satellite stations. The county would be better served and at less expense.

The EMS service would be enhanced by the synergies of cross-trained personnel. I would feel more assured at having multiple sets of "jaws-of-life" rescue extrication tools closer at hand and quicker on scene placed at multiple locales throughout the county.

-- Posted by BellBuckleKid on Wed, Jun 10, 2009, at 10:40 PM