Emergency personnel crowded the Hopkinsville Fire Department conference room on Wednesday as the Hopkinsville-Christian County Ambulance Board discussed the fate of EMS wages which resulted in heated exchanges and a four-month decision deadline being set.
Recently, Hopkinsville Fire Chief Steve Futrell shared the fire department’s dwindling revenue status with local government and the situation is growing more dire as $4,000 cuts to EMS wages is on the table and has created an intense divide among the members of the ambulance board.
According to Futrell, his fire department is one of the busiest in the state and one of the only ones to operate solely from the funds they generate. However, with increases to equipment prices and operational expenses, along with issues with their former billing service their current model has not been profitable.
Futrell says last week they fired their old billing company and hired a new company, 911 Billing Services, a family run company in Madisonville, with the hope that they can continue running on their revenue.
Beverly Pinkston and Levi Worth from 911 Billing were at Wednesday’s meeting to share how they can work toward increasing fire department and EMS revenues and how they plan to address two months of backlogged insurance claims, which is estimated to consist of around 2,000 calls to service.
As a result of the backlogged claims, Worth says in around two weeks they should be able to start filing old claims which should result in a hike in revenue coming to the fire department in the next few months.
Worth says he believes they can increase the revenue the fire department gets from each claim from a minimum of $50 to a maximum of around $100 per claim. Worth also shared that the department’s yearly revenue increase could be anywhere between $540,000 to $1.1 million.
With the fire department set to possibly receive revenue within the next few months the ambulance board approved accepting a loan from the City of Hopkinsville to help fund their operations through June. City Chief Financial Officer, Melissa Clayton shared that in March the fire department’s revenue was completely dried up, and hopefully by June the fire department will start receiving revenue from their backlogged claims.
Along with the loan, Clayton shared that the fire department is also receiving around $70,000 per month as the result of House Bill 8 which increases supplemental funds to emergency response services.
After accepting the loan, the ambulance board discussed the status of EMS wages. Board Chair Darrel Gustafson says in 2022 60% of the fire department’s revenue went toward salaries, and currently that rate is 97%. Gustafson says salaries are eating up all their revenue, and until the fire department starts receiving more funds, changes need to be made.
Gustafson says the wage decrease would take around $20 off of each paycheck EMS receive, but members of the board disagreed with the calculation. Gustafson says it is better for them to reduce pay rather than cut positions.
In response to Gustafson’s stance fellow board member, Travis Martin said he couldn’t imagine cutting EMS salaries and that the fire department should start receiving more revenue once 911 Billing starts filing their backlogged claims. Board member Philip Petersen says they can’t promise money they don’t have yet from the claims.
Gustafson says the fire department has always been cash positive and he had pride in that, but Martin says they can’t help that inflation is affecting the cost of equipment and salaries, and if the department continues to suffer financially, he is not opposed to establishing an ambulance tax.
After more discussion, the ambulance board voted to postpone the decision and revisit EMS wages in four months to give 911 Billing a chance to file claims and generate revenue. Gustafson was the only board member to vote against the tabling motion.
Following the meeting, Hopkinsville Mayor J.R. Knight issued a press release stating that he wholeheartedly supports Hopkinsville’s EMS team and the work they do. He also shares that he is committed to working collaboratively with the ambulance board, county officials and community representatives to find a mutually beneficial solution to ensure EMS has the resources they need to continue their life saving work while maintaining fiscal responsibility.