Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Ambulance Services topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee approves modest ambulance rate changes and votes to move 2026 contract talks into closed session
Summary
Accounting manager Jordan Munger presented recommended, mostly minor ambulance-rate adjustments for 2026; the committee approved the changes and then voted to enter closed session under Wisconsin Statutes §19.85(1)(e) to deliberate renewal of ambulance service contracts with neighboring municipalities.
The Finance, Budget and Personnel Committee on Sept. 16 approved recommended changes to municipal ambulance service rates for 2026 and voted to move discussions about renewing ambulance service contracts into closed session.
Jordan Munger, the city’s accounting manager, said staff reviewed local peer rates with assistance from the city’s third-party billing provider and recommended “very minor changes” focused on basic life support (BLS) and advanced life support (ALS) transports. Munger said ALS 2 rates were unchanged and that specialty care transport (SCT) rates apply to very few transports — “maybe less than five per year.” The committee moved, seconded and approved the rate changes by voice vote.
Munger said Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement changes occur annually but are minimal; the primary goal of the rate update was to remain competitive in the market. He estimated commercial charges make up less than 20% of gross charges for ambulance services, meaning increases to the fee schedule will have a limited effect once payer discounts are applied.
After approving the rate changes, the committee voted to adjourn into closed session under Wisconsin Statutes §19.85(1)(e) — “deliberating or negotiating the purchasing of public properties, investing of public funds, or conducting other specific public business whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session” — to discuss renewal of ambulance service contracts for 2026 with surrounding municipalities. A motion and a second carried the request to enter closed session; the chair called the roll and members responded before the committee left open session.
Munger’s packet included a side-by-side comparison of services and peer rates (packet pages referenced by Munger), and he asked the committee to approve the adjusted schedule and forward it to the full council. The committee did so; members approved the rate recommendations by voice vote and then moved to closed session for contract negotiations.
No specific contract terms, final rates after payer discounts, or competing municipal offers were discussed in public session; those matters were placed on the closed-session agenda. The committee did not record a public roll-call tally of the rate vote beyond the voice vote; the motion to enter closed session referenced Wisconsin statutory authority and was approved by the committee.
