Ambulance fees set to increase beginning next year

Ambulance fees in Whitefish will see a substantial increase to cover a projected $180,000 shortfall in the city’s emergency medical services budget.

The Whitefish Fire Department recently completed an internal rate study and cost-of-service analysis. The study proposed a fee increase that will increase the cost of basic life support from $7000 to $945 for city residents and city property owners. The fees for non-residents will increase from $900 to $1,204 in the Whitefish ambulance service area.

Whitefish City Council Dec. 5 approved the fee increases, which will go into effect in July. As part of the resolution, fees are also set to automatically increase in July of 2018 and 2019 based on increases to the U.S. Consumer Price Index for the previous year.

Advanced life support fees will increase from $830 to $1,110 for city residents and from $1,030 to $1,369 for non-residents.

This is the first increase in ambulance fees since 2008 for residents and 2012 for non-residents, Whitefish Fire Marshall Tom Kennelly noted.

“The increase is necessary to fund emergency medical services,” he said. “We tried to minimize the increase as much as we could.”

Councilor Jen Frandsen voted in favor of the increase, but expressed frustration over the situation.

“It’s unfortunate that we’re in this situation and that we haven’t planned better,” she said.

Projected EMS system expenditures are $1.95 million for the current fiscal year that ends June 30, 2017. Of that, $720,133 covers the minimum fixed expenses for equipment and personnel that will be incurred by the fire department for providing a single layer of 24/7 paramedic service regardless of the number of calls.

The current ambulance fees are expected to generate $1.18 million. However, those fees and other EMS revenues will not fully cover costs, which is expected to require a $179,375 transfer from the city’s general fund to cover the shortfall.

“There are the basic costs for the service and then additional costs based on demand,” Kennelly explained.

The fire department currently provides emergency medical services 24/7 using a career staffing base of 12 paramedics, two advanced emergency medical technicians, and one emergency medical technician split between three 24-hour shifts. A part-time staff of five firefighters/paramedics and six paid-on-call firefighter/emergency medical technicians support the career staff.

The department operates three advanced life support ambulances and three advanced life support equipped fire apparatus.