Ambulance district board approves FY 2019 budget

The Weiser Ambulance District’s fiscal year 2019 budget of $1 million was approved following a public hearing by commissioners.

 The three Washington County commissioners serve as the governing board for the ambulance district. The hearing on the ambulance budget was held on Aug. 27 prior to the county budget hearing.

 The budget anticipates $749,000 in revenue from various sources, including fees for services, and $210,000 in taxes, which is down from an intital estimae of $251,000 in property and other taxes. 

 The district will receive $4,040 in forgone property taxes in the FY 2019 budget instead of the $45,000 that was stated at the budget hearing. Ambulance district officials said the amount of foregone taxes the district could collect was later revised downward.

 In years when taxing districts or governments do not raise taxes by the maximum 3 percent, the difference between what the district is allowed to levy and what it actually levied is called forgone taxes. It’s property tax revenue that the district didn’t take then, but it is still on the books. 

 Each year, while setting its budget, a taxing district with accrued forgone taxes can choose to collect none, some or all of that forgone amount. 

 Without the full $45,000 in foregone taxes to use, the ambulance district is going to hold off on one of its planned capital improvement projects to enclose the third bay of the ambulance shed. The project, which was estimated to cost $35,000, won’t happen this year, officials said.

 The biggest portion of the ambulance district budget in FY 2019 will go toward salaries and wages. The budget allocates $645,000 in salary, wages and benefits for employees, an increase of about $70,000 from the current FY 2018 budget.

 Ambulance director Larry Colella said the district found it needed to increase wages and offer some benefits to part-time employees to be competitive with other regional agencies and retain employees. The ambulance district relies on part-time employees to cover the many shifts, some of whom work as medics for other agencies.

 The expense line item in the ambulance budget totals $255,000 for FY 2019. Higher costs for employee health insurance is part of the expense.

 On the revenue side, fees for services are projected to total $575,000 in the next year. The district will carry over $60,000 from the current year budget into the FY 2019 budget to cover operating expenses.

 The district has fared well in recent years in the number of grants received, and Colella said he applies for grants each and every year. The district received a $20,000 grant for automatic CPR devices this year. 

 Over the past couple of years, the district has been able to buy two new ambulances with grants that totaled $250,000 from the state. Another $30,000 in grants equipped the ambulances with power cots and power load devices to assist in getting patients into the ambulances.