PANAMA CITY — A majority of the Bay County Commission supports giving the ambulance service more time to get its finances in order before considering other options, such as privatizing the service.
For fiscal year 2014 that ended Sept. 30, which was the first full year the county ran the service, Bay County’s ambulance service revenues were nearly $2 million short of covering operating costs.
Total expenditures for the ambulance service for the fiscal year were $6.96 million, which is $1.81 million away from breaking even. The county also has borrowed $2.5 million on a $3 million line of credit on which it is paying interest, with some of these funds covering operational costs and others for purchasing vehicles and equipment.
But there is $7.5 million in outstanding debts the county is trying to collect in net accounts receivable.
County Commission Chairman Guy Tunnell said he’s a little concerned about the numbers, but more time is needed to see how well collections go.
“We knew going into this thing it was going to be a challenge for us and for the staff,” he said.
Tunnell said there is no doubt the county is doing a great job of operating the ambulance service, with only one complaint filed for more than 23,000 calls in the last year.
“That is a pretty good start as far as the level of service,” he said. “To me, that is kind of the most important thing.”
Tunnell said if the county is able to collect only a quarter of what is owed in unpaid ambulance rides, it will be in the black.
“All things considered, I think it’s gone pretty well for our first venture into this,” he said. “We have a great staff. You couldn’t ask for more from our ambulance and EMS personnel. We have good leadership.
“I think the jury is still out” on the finances. “We’ll have to wait and see in next three or four months how it turns out.”
County Commissioner Mike Nelson said he is optimistic collections will pick up.
“We wanted to give it at least through March before we could make any kind of a real decision on it,” he said. “And I just think that we need a good, strong ambulance service, because the people in Bay County, quite frankly, deserve it. We could go out and get some discount ambulance service and it would never be the same.”
He said it is also too early to talk about a county subsidy for ambulance service, which many counties have. “No, not yet,” he said.
Nelson said he would balk at allowing a private company to run the ambulance service.
“I think we need to have some control because we’re serving the people of Bay County and our visitors,” he said. “I just feel like maybe we can serve them better than a private company. A private company comes in and you don’t know what kind of equipment they’ve got.”
County Commissioner Bill Dozier also said it is too early to judge how the financials are doing, noting the commission wanted to wait until the end of March to gauge how well collections have gone and then make a decision about the future of the service.
“I want to get some more information on where we are going with our numbers,” he said.
Commissioner Mike Thomas said people should not be surprised the system isn’t breaking even at this point.
“The first year we knew there going to be startup costs,” he said. “I wish we were closer [to breaking even], but we were told a long time ago that it would probably be March before we knew where we were, and we still have got collectables out there. We ought to give it a chance to work.”
Commissioner George Gainer is in the minority, saying the county should consider selling the service and the county-owned vehicles and equipment to a private company. He said the revenues from the sale could help the county recoup its losses.
Gainer said he is definitely opposed to any new tax to subsidize the service, which he said doesn’t look like will be a break-even proposition.
“I’m not willing to wait until we have to raise taxes to find out,” he said. “We can look at it now and make a determination now so we can avoid any situation that would cause us to have to raise taxes.”