Costs sting, but can’t put price on safety, they agree
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
Copyright 2007 The Commercial Appeal, Inc.
Suburban leaders on Wednesday were pondering options to a Rural/Metro ambulance company plan that would triple the current $1 million annual cost to Shelby County taxpayers.
Rural/Metro, the county’s ambulance provider, said it will take about $3.2 million to fund enough ambulances to meet county Mayor A C Wharton’s call for a 9-minute response time in suburban municipalities and 12 minutes in unincorporated pockets.
The Rural/Metro contract covers Arlington, Collierville, Germantown, Lakeland and Millington, plus unincorporated areas. Bartlett, like Memphis, has its own ambulance service.
Each government pays a share of the contract based on the ratio of calls within its city limits. The county takes care of the unincorporated portion of the contract - about half the calls.
Few problems with ambulance response times have been reported in Lakeland and Arlington, but the new plan could have the cities contributing a combined $150,000 more for the service.
Though the additional costs would be almost triple the $40,000 Arlington pays now, Arlington mayor Russell Wiseman doubts taxes will increase. “It’s another cost we’ll have to absorb,” he said. “I cringed when I saw it, but I don’t think you can put a price tag on saving somebody’s life.”
Lakeland mayor Scott Carmichael had much the same reaction - though the increase will jar the town’s budget, he said they will make it work.
“Obviously, the health and safety of our citizens is paramount,” he said.
While Carmichael said he hasn’t heard any complaints about slow ambulance response time, “if you happen to be the one person who needs it, obviously it’s a big concern.”
Lakeland, which operates under an assumed nine-plus minute response time, contributes around $30,000 to $35,000 a year to the county ambulance services, and their costs would increase approximately $70,000, Carmichael said.
“It hasn’t been proven to me that it really has been a problem,” he said. The increased costs “aren’t going to cripple us, but we’ll have to re-think our priorities.”
In Millington, Fire Chief Charles A. Carter said he and other city officials are discussing whether residents want to pay and can afford the increased cost of faster ambulance service.
Carter said Millington officials haven’t received many complaints about long response times, but added that doesn’t mean the city wouldn’t benefit from more ambulances.
Just maybe not as many as 14, which meets criteria proposed by Wharton. Carter said that would increase taxes for Millington residents.
In 2005, ambulance service in Millington cost about $126,846. The projected increase would bump that to nearly $399,000, and Carter said the projected cost based on 2006 figures would be even higher.
“You’re talking about tripling the amount we pay,” Carter said. “That’s a significant amount.”
Collierville and Germantown officials likewise were weighing their options. The potential impact on their budgets and tax rates could mean a 2.7-cent increase to Collierville’s property tax rate, while if Germantown covered the service with property taxes - something aldermen have said they won’t do - it would be 2.4 cents more per $100 assessed value.
Based on 2005 statistics, Collierville would pay about $488,000, while Germantown faces a $446,000 annual bill.
The increased amount did not translate to “sticker shock” for outlying-city officials because the cities have studied such issues for several years as the question of response times and the number of calls have increased.
The suburbs don’t have long to decide. The county ambulance contract allows the municipalities to opt out of the agreement if they give notice before Feb. 1.