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Western Payne County Ambulance Trust seeks $1 increase to subscription fee, cites rising transfers and red ink
Summary
Chair of the Western Payne County Ambulance Trust Authority told the Stoner City Council the trust plans to raise the monthly resident-benefit subscription from $5 to $6 effective July 1 to cover rising costs and increasing interfacility transfers; customers may opt out through existing utility-billing procedures.
The Western Payne County Ambulance Trust Authority asked the Stoner City Council on Feb. 10 to allow a $1 increase in the monthly resident-benefit subscription charged on utility bills, raising the fee from $5 to $6 effective July 1.
Jerry Moller, chair of the trust board, told council members that emergency responses and interfacility transfers have risen sharply in recent years and that the trust has run operating deficits in five of the last six years. “We started the service with 2½ trucks,” Moller said. “We recently added another 12-hour truck because of the increase in volume of transfers. So now we have 5½ ambulances 24 hours a day, staffed with at least one paramedic in every ambulance.”
The subscription fee has been billed on the Stillwater Utilities Authority utility statement since a 2010 agreement. Christy Clark, Assistant City Manager and Finance Director, said the SUA collects the fee as a pass-through and remits funds to the trust without taking an administrative fee. Moller said the trust believes a $6 fee “will cover our needs for the next 10 years.”
Moller outlined revenue sources and financial strain: the City of Stillwater provides about 76.99% of the trust’s revenues, and the trust ran a net loss in most recent years. He said last year’s subsidy to the ambulance contract was roughly $1.5 million and that reserves are being drawn down. The trust’s provider, LifeNet, is a contracted nonprofit that staffs and operates the ambulances.
Council members asked how the subscription interacts with insurance and billing. Moller said the trust files claims to insurers and writes off unpaid or uncollectible amounts; insured patients still get billed to insurance first and there is no co-pay under the resident-benefit coverage. He added that a customer who opts out remains subject to standard billing: “That would be about between $3,000 and $3,500” for an ambulance transport, he said.
Moller said the trust will publish a utility-bill stuffer explaining the reason for the increase and the opt-out process; the trust will pay the cost of that mailing. Councilors thanked the trust for the service and staff for administering the billing pass-through. No formal council vote was required or taken on the fee increase during the meeting; the trust indicated the change will be implemented by the trust and reflected on utility bills with the same opt-out mechanism in place.
