By Tom Sheehan
The Columbus Dispatch (Ohio)
Copyright 2006 The Columbus Dispatch
All Rights Reserved
Heath and Newark might take a page from Columbus and Lancaster and bill patients for ambulance runs to the hospital to help generate some extra cash.
Heath Mayor Dan Dupps plans to present a recommendation to the City Council tonight. Both the insured and uninsured would be billed under Dupps’ proposal.
The council has been split on whether to bill everybody. It could act at its Aug. 21 meeting. Such fees could bring in between $170,000 and $250,000 a year, Dupps said.
In Newark, Mayor Bruce Bain is telling City Council members that billing for emergency-squad runs is needed. The cash-strapped Licking County city has laid off 14 workers and made deep cuts in the past couple of years to balance its general-fund budget.
Bain anticipates so-called EMS billing could generate more than $1 million a year. He hasn’t decided whether everybody should be billed or just those whose insurance company would pick up the tab.
It’s unlikely that Newark City Council will take any action until September, he said. Both cities would hire private companies to handle the billing process.
Columbus has had EMS billing for several years and took in $6.2 million last year.
The insurance industry generally frowns on such billing schemes to raise money for cities and opposes billing only people who carry insurance, said Mary Bonelli of the Ohio Insurance Institute, which represents automobile insurers.
“It should be something that all consumers should pay for, not just those that abide by the law and have insurance,” she said.
Dupps estimates that Heath will have an $82,000 general-fund deficit this fiscal year.
“Our budget situation is like everybody else. We are not going back to the voters,” he said. “Fees and any other services we can charge for” is what the city will pursue.
Newark remains in a financial bind, although Bain said it is too early to estimate what kind of deficit the city faces for the coming year. Last year, Newark had to whittle away a $2.4 million deficit.
“There’s always a need to look for extra revenue,” Bain said. “I think this has a chance” with the council, he said.
City administrators also want the council to approve development fees to help save money, and they plan to introduce a proposal today. Rather than seeking impact fees, which several central Ohio cities use to collect money on new development, Newark wants an exaction fee.
An exaction fee involves reaching an agreement with developers to provide certain negotiated infrastructure improvements, such as water and sewer lines.