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Ambulance Authority approves amended budget submission after staff seek increases to fuel and overtime
Summary
At its March 19 meeting the Coffee County Ambulance Authority approved submission of an amended 2026 budget after staff requested increases to fuel, vehicle maintenance and medical overtime; the board also approved routine write-offs and reviewed operations metrics showing positive collections and $2.2 million in fund cash.
Committee member Frank Watkins moved and Committee member Missy DeFord seconded a motion to approve submission of the Ambulance Authority’s 2026 budget as amended, and the motion passed at the authority’s March 19 meeting.
The board’s action followed a staff budget presentation from Michael Bonner, a staff member, who requested increases to the fuel budget, the vehicle maintenance line and the medical overtime line, saying current spending is at about 90% of budget and headcount has increased. Committee member Frank Watkins also proposed raising the communications equipment line to $9,000; the board approved the budget submission with those changes.
The meeting included routine financial approvals. The authority approved February 2026 write-offs totaling $6,020.32 after a motion by Watkins and a second from Missy DeFord. The board also approved the minutes from its Feb. 19, 2026 meeting and the agenda at the start of the session.
Staff presented quarterly financial and operations figures that the board cited as context for the budget request. Marianna Edinger, a staff member, reported that collections are up compared with the same point last year and that year-to-date collections exceed the adopted budget by $196,330. On a per-billed-call basis, collections were $130,660 above budgeted expectations, with an average collection of $419 per billed call. Edinger said the fund’s cash balance is $2.2 million and that monthly and year-to-date write-offs remain within normal ranges. Billable calls were slightly down from the prior year.
Operational metrics for February were presented to the board: 808 total calls, 448 billable calls, an average chute time of 81 seconds, average scene time of 14 minutes 47 seconds and total call time of 44 minutes 43 seconds. Staff identified Thursday as the busiest day and 4 a.m.–5 a.m. as the busiest hour.
No public comments were recorded. The board set its next meeting for April 16, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. in CCAP meeting room No. 1 and adjourned at 5:28 p.m.
