07-A EMS 6 Mo. Status Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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from scratch," he said. "It might also be an option for the city to run an._ ambulance service, but the county has never done that." Fire Chief Donald McMullan said the city and county will be looking at long- term plans in the near future, but for now, he sees little choice but to pay the subsidy. "For the fire department to become involved in the actual ambulance service part rather than working as first responders like they do now would be a very costly project," he said. "The initial start-up costs would be very high due to the fact you have to buy ambulances, hire additional people and things of that nature." He said his firefighters, many of whom are already advanced paramedics, would have no problem manning ambulances, but he has doubts about the financial considerations of a city-operated service. "It's a decision the city and county are going to have to look at," he said. "They will have to spend some time evaluating the cost of things and what would be the best service for the community." "For the short term, I don't see that we have a lot of choice," he said. "The timing is bad, and we may not like the way it came about, but I really think our options are going to be worse." He added that it may be difficult to find another ambulance service for Navarro County considering the low reimbursement rate classification and ETMC's 29.5 percent collection rate. Truitt Gilbreath, city manager, said it will be a struggle to find the city's half of the subsidy in the current budget. "The equivalent of $150,000 is 2 cents on the tax rate," he said. "We wouldn't necessarily pay for it like that, but it's part of the whole revenue picture if the ciry has to pay for." He said council members and commissioners will consider both short- and long-term solutions after Monday's meeting.