By Bill Brown
Buffalo News (New York)
Copyright 2006 The Buffalo News
All Rights Reserved
BATAVIA, N.Y. — In a special meeting Monday, the City Council put to rest a long-discussed effort to collect nearly $1 million in delinquent charges for the city-operated ambulance service.
By a unanimous vote, the Council agreed to hire Med-Rev Recoveries of Liverpool to begin collecting any future delinquent ambulance bills beginning today.
A second resolution to seek collection for fiscal years 2003 to 2006 passed, 7-2.
The weeks-long debate has centered on whether to seek overdue payments for services in a city facing a $3 million operating loss. Opponents cited a policy of billing three times and then writing off the debt.
Med-Rev, which charges 22 percent of whatever it collects, estimates that only 5 percent to 10 percent of the delinquent charges could be collected. This could provide potential revenues for the city ranging from $37,000 to $75,000 for 2003, the first year affected.
Two previous fiscal years are lost because the Council in 2005 authorized the write-off prior to the 2003 fiscal year.
The ambulance service has been losing money since an agreement was signed several years ago by the city; St. Jerome and Genesee Memorial hospitals, which had provided ambulances; and other municipalities in the county.
It is apparently the other municipalities where the unpaid bills have accumulated. Of the loss of $922,000 since 2003, calls to city emergencies have amounted to fewer than 25 percent, according to Councilman-at-Large Charles L. Mallow Jr.
In a conference session Monday, the Council also attacked another loss column — fees and penalties. All will be increased, some by as much as four times the current rate. Some new fees will be added.
While this will not offset the budget deficit, it will begin to cover actual costs.