By Richard Byrd
Columbia Basin Herald
MOSES LAKE, Wash. — On Tuesday three representatives from the Moses Lake Fire Fighters Local 2052 brought the case to save the city’s ambulance service before members of the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce.
In their presentation, 2052 representatives Chris Mortensen, Travis Pulliam and Troy Hesse worked to gain the chamber’s support.
The city is considering cutting the city ambulance service to make up for property taxes they will not be receiving from REC Silicon. City officials are expecting an estimated $1.7 million budget shortfall from taxes not received from REC Silicon.
Hesse started the presentation by detailing some of the ins and outs of the fire and ambulance service, and some of the problems they are facing in terms of personnel and staffing. He addressed the effectiveness of a private EMS compared to public EMS.
“There have been some serious concerns that have been brought up as far as our ability to provide services especially with the thought moving forward if an ambulance service is cut or reduced. What would that look like, what would be the impact,” said Hesse.
Hesse stated that fire and emergency services are already at reduced staff, with 33 total employees, 29 of whom go out to service calls.
With the disbanding of the volunteer fire department in 2011, they can no longer rely on volunteers to assist in service calls.
Hesse remarked he knows the level of service and capabilities that the fire and ambulance services can provide is not where it should be.
“We don’t think that we can continue to annex property, increase population, increase industry, increase the responsibility of us, while reducing staffing and capabilities,” Hesse said. “They can’t go hand-in-hand, they cannot co-exist.”
One of the major points of contention in the presentation was the comparing and contrasting of what public ambulance service looks like, versus a private company.
If disbanded, ambulance services would likely be contracted to American Medical Response (AMR) in the city. That means AMR, which also services parts of the county, would have to cover a larger amount of area, possibly increasing time for services.
AMR cannot provide the same level of service as the city does, firefighters claim. Hesse also noted that AMR is a for profit business and revenue-focused.
“In my brief employment with AMR, it was not uncommon for us to go from the City of Moses Lake, to pick somebody up in Spokane and take them to Seattle, take them to Portland,” Mortensen said. “Which took them out of service for 12 to 15 hours, depending on the weather conditions and stuff like that, but that was not an uncommon deal. Because there was money to be generated by doing that.”
On the expenses side of the argument, Hesse stated the ambulance service is an asset to the community and generating positive revenue.
Hesse noted for a couple of years they generated income for the city, such as in 2014. Currently, through three quarters of the year, they are at 76 percent of expenses, and 82 percent of revenue.
These numbers conflict with recent reports from the city, which state the ambulance service lost about $239,500 this year and about $151,400 last year.
He said there are currently 26 firefighters available to the fire department, 15 of whom come from the ambulance service and 11 coming out of the fire budget. If the ambulance service was to be disbanded, there would be 11 firefighters left for service calls.
That means the city would have to hire 10 more firefighters, which would cost the city about $1 million a year. The cost of hiring the 10 additional firefighters would come out of the city’s general fund.
Hesse noted that city manager Joseph Gavinski said in 2016 the ambulance service will most likely be safe, but the problem is in 2015.
“We are looking and considering getting rid of the ambulance service, with all of this stuff involved, over a one-year issue,” remarked Hesse, “It just doesn’t sound very logical to us.”
Hesse, Mortensen and Pulliam asked those in attendance to support them going forward in the fight to save the ambulance service.
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©2014 the Columbia Basin Herald, Wash.