Mo. County Ambulance District Starts Rolling Base Closures Following Tax Defeat
Sept. 03--LINCOLN COUNTY -- In the wake of a property tax defeat last month, the Lincoln County Ambulance District began Wednesday to close bases on a rotating schedule to stem a budget shortfall.
Chief Administrator Ray Antonacci said the closures are necessary to trim the district's budget by more than $100,000.
"In the end, this is the people's choice," he said. "We put in the ballot language that we needed Prop S to avoid big cuts, but it failed. This is heart-wrenching for us; I can't emphasize that enough."
The district had asked for a 35-cent hike on $100 of assessed valuation, which would have cost the owner of a $100,000 home $66.48 more a year. The measure failed overwhelmingly with 60 percent of voters rejecting it. The increase is on the ballot again in November.
The district operates five ambulances out of four bases in Troy, Winfield, Elsberry and Auburn. Troy, the busiest base, houses two ambulances.
Before the cutback, the minimum staffing for any day was 11 -- two medics per ambulance and one supervisor. Now the minimum staffing will be nine, Antonacci said.
A decision to close stations was made after a study determined that two or more people are off due to illness or vacation about 17 days a month. During these days, the district will shut down a base instead of filling in the schedule with part-time paramedics. The supervisor will determine which base to close, and a sign will be posted at the base to notify residents.
If no one calls in sick or is scheduled to be off, the district would be fully staffed that day.
Antonacci said that other measures -- such as cutting pay -- weren't considered because starting pay for a full-time paramedic is $12.75 an hour.
"That doesn't leave us a whole lot of room for cuts," he said.
He said the plan went into effect Monday, but Wednesday was the first day a base -- in Winfield -- was closed.
Antonacci said the district is having money problems because of a drop in revenue from property and sales taxes. For example, the anticipated revenue for 2014 is $4.7 million, about $88,000 less than the district collected in 2007, he said.
Meanwhile, the district's costs for things such as gasoline and tires have increased. Each of the four bases covers 160 square miles, which puts a lot of wear and tear on the vehicles, he said.
The average response time before the base closures was 13 minutes, and Antonacci said he worried that it will take even longer to get to residents in need.
"I'm concerned, the board is concerned, this is eating at us," he said. "We're not in this business to make decisions like this, but we're at that point in our budget that we have to cut $100,000 from somewhere."
Antonacci said the district is hoping voters will approve the tax increase in November, making the base closures a temporary measure. The district hasn't had a property tax increase since 1984.
If it passes, not only would the stations return to full staffing, but the district would add three new stations, Antonacci said. Response times could be reduced, he said, to the national standard of less than eight minutes.
Susan Weich is a reporter at the Post-Dispatch. Follow her on Twitter or Facebook.
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