Pulaski County council creates subcommittee after EMS leader urges wage increases to retain staff

Natasha Doherty, an EMS representative, told the Pulaski County Council the county’s emergency medical services are understaffed and paid below comparable providers and asked the council to consider higher wages.

Doherty said EMS employees work roughly 2,920 hours annually under the county schedule — substantially more than the 2,080 hours that define a standard full-time year — and urged pay increases to reflect that workload. “What I want the council to remember is that there are 365 days in a year,” she said in presenting a wage comparison and revenue update.

The council’s action came after Doherty reported billing revenue and staffing figures. She said ambulance billing returned $723,089.45 through Dec. 31, up about $62,556 from the last report, and that the billing vendor is Ambulance Billing Services. Doherty also described typical pay levels shown in the packet: EMT base pay listed as 13.44 and paramedic base listed as 19.56 after a 2.8% cost-of-living increase; she said those rates leave Pulaski County “significantly under those around us.” She also said the raise she is requesting would amount to a difference of $47,060.60 in county payroll costs.

The council discussed how hours and pay comparisons are calculated. County staff noted published wage-study data are older than some neighboring counties’ most recent increases and that neighboring jurisdictions in some cases recently raised wages by larger percentages. Nathan (staff member) said the formal wage study data are older than a year and that some local budgets updated more recently.

Council members volunteered to form a three-person subcommittee to examine the proposal, scheduling and competing benefits. Council members AJ, Tim and Sheila volunteered to serve on the committee and were assigned to report back to the council. The council did not adopt a pay increase or appropriate funding during the meeting; members directed the subcommittee to review the packet materials and return recommendations.

Doherty described operational details the committee was to consider: local providers’ benefit packages, retirement contributions, insurance deductibles and the differing shift structures used by neighboring services that affect hourly comparisons. She also told the council she had reported 36 open shifts earlier but now had one open shift that she expected to cover herself; she said the service was not currently short-staffed.

The council requested more precise billing-recovery percentages from the billing vendor and asked staff to reconcile annual-hours calculations used in the county’s wage study with Doherty’s annual-hours presentation. The subcommittee was charged with bringing a recommendation to the full council.