BCEMS ends fiscal year better than projections

Wednesday, July 15, 2009
By John I. Carney

Bedford County Emergency Medical Services ended the 2008-2009 fiscal year above projected revenue and below projected expenses, although director Chad Graham told BCEMS board members Monday night that the under-spending was partly the result of personnel factors that are difficult to control from year to year.

Graham said no personnel budget is an exact one -- an employee might leave unexpectedly, increasing costs for overtime or part-time workers in the meantime. The number of calls on a given day affect whether crews might need to be called in to help with the overflow.

A new fiscal year began June 30.

BCEMS asked for, and received, permission from the county to use some of its saved money to buy a new ambulance chassis which will eventually be used for one of the service's existing ambulance boxes. Because of the tight economy and county budget, this is the third fiscal year in which BCEMS has been unable to either buy a new ambulance outright or do a "chassis changeover" on one of its existing units. But changes in federal regulations meant the make of diesel chassis favored by BCEMS may not be available at all in 2010, so the county went ahead and bought an existing unit to save for a changeover when money becomes available.

Graham said the BCEMS fleet is holding up well so far, Board member Whitney Neeley said she is concerned that without the normal yearly replacement schedule, BCEMS will eventually be faced with an expensive crisis.

"It's going to catch us one year," she said.

In other discussion Monday night, board members approved a collections policy for BCEMS. Graham said the policy merely collects the existing policies in a better format as requested by state auditors. The policy also calls for uncollectible accounts to be reported monthly to the BCEMS board and the county's Financial Management Committee to be written off. Graham said County Finance Director Robert Daniel had already seen and approved the draft policy.

BCEMS continues to collect old accounts on its own as long as the customer is making an attempt to pay. Accounts which BCEMS deems locally uncollectible are turned over to a collection agency, which keeps about a third of everything it collects.

No individual, whether a BCEMS employee or a county official, has the authority to waive or cancel a charge under the policy.

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Great management and a real team effort.....

-- Posted by Black Swan on Wed, Jul 15, 2009, at 5:46 PM