By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
The Tucker County Commission approved the first withdraw from the County’s 2% Special Ambulance Fee Fund on Wednesday, August 13th. The request for $100,000 was made by Tucker County Ambulance Authority Director Amanda Simmons during the Commission’s regular session.
Simmons officially requested that the Ambulance Authority be allowed to access $100,000 of the funds from the 2% Special Ambulance Fee Fund in order to fund continued operations for the Ambulance service.
“Without the imposing of the 2% fee, I can tell you, we will go under,” Simmons said. “If we don’t see a turn in the tides to see where people do the right thing, we will eventually go under. Tucker service will go under.”
Simmons said she has been approached by members of the public about adding additional service to the County by adding a second crew full time to the Davis Station. She said her answer was simple, there isn’t the money for one Station.
“I had an individual ask me the other day, can’t we bring in a second service? We can’t pay for the first service we have, let alone the secondary,” Simmons said.
Simmons said it is crucial that the 2% Special Ambulance Fee be upheld. Currently, the County faces court battles in both District and Federal Court over the ordinance. Attorneys for Timberline and Valley Scenic View filed suit in Elkins Federal Court on Thursday, August 14th challenging the ordinance on grounds that it interferes with interstate commerce.
“I don’t think people realize the crucialness of the 2% going through and being fulfilled,” Simmons said.
The Ambulance Authority currently runs two 2012, a 2014, a 2016 and a 2023 ambulance. Currently, the 2023 rig is down and is in the midst of receiving a new rear differential which was a pre-existing defect before the Authority’s ownership. Simmons said that the rigs are getting old and are in constant need of repair.
“Whenever we go down, we go down,” Simmons said. “We’ve had a couple of times where we’ve only had one rig. I can remember one time in the past three years where we’ve been down to zero because they are so old. Things will go out on them on a regular basis.”
Simmons said that in the past couple of days, a crew had to change out rigs because a wheel was about to come off of a rig. The replacement rig then had the batteries go out. One rig is currently receiving a $35,000 motor. Simmons described the costs of maintenance as “astronomical.”
“They were from 2014, though and they had been running this whole time,” Simmons said. “They’re old. What do you do with old? You just keep repairing.”
The cost of maintaining equipment isn’t the only financial hardship the Authority faces. The cost of medications for the rigs is also exceptionally high, according to Simmons. Simmons said $12,000 has already been spent this year on medications and equipment for the trucks.
“Its needed,” Simmons said. “Its not where, this is where I would love to have this. No, its a necessity.”
Simmons said the trucks are inspected by the State once a year. Tucker County completed their inspection the week prior and “everything was perfect on them.” Simmons said that the glowing inspection is due to the fact that the service keeps the trucks up and stays on top of what is on board.
“You can go out of business if you have one thing on your truck that is out of date,” Simmons said.
Tucker County Commissioner Fred Davis commented that he remembers another organization that proposed coming in at an initial up front cost of $100,000 and then a monthly fee of $5,000 to $10,000 to have the crews on site for runs.
“Because that literally is how much we go in the hole every year,” Simmons said. “Our organization can only provide for itself for a $1.4 million budget, we are only able to actually bring in roughly $600,000 a year and that’s on a good year.”
Simmons said last year, the service had over 1,400 calls, of which they do medical billing. Simmons said in her first year, medical billing was upped $184,000, mainly due to making sure that the billing was being completed properly with insurance companies. The service also provides medical transports for extra funding, as well.
“We’ve done everything we can do to source funding,” Simmons said. “When you have that large of a budget and you are losing roughly $400 per call by just going out, yes, its vital that we have sustainable funding.”
The service has obtained some Covid funds that have allowed the Authority to maintain service since an initial funding deadline of July 1.
“However, we have been using quite a bit of our escrow,” Simmons said.
Currently, the Ambulance service is running a bare bones operations in an effort to stay afloat. However, even with the Authority’s dire financial situation, it seeks to continue to serve the community to the best of its ability, Simmons said.
“We have still tried to increase services even though we are running at very bare minimum,” Simmons said.
Currently, the service has two full time medics and a third that was completing testing for certification. The service currently has full coverage six days a week with several part-time medics on staff to assist, as well. There have been 24 hour crews at Station One (Parsons) and a 12 hour crew during the day until 8 p.m. at Station Two (Davis), Simmons said, on several occasions.
“But come 8 o’clock we go back to one station,” Simmons said.
Simmons said that she attended a fundraiser at Deerfield HOA in Canaan Valley. The HOA raised $3,600 for the Ambulance Authority at the six hour event.
“They were phenomenal,” Simmons said. “I was so overwhelmed by their generosity.”
Several homeowners in the HOA have Airbnb’s and had questions that Simmons was able to answer for them. Several Airbnb owners did not realize the funding needs and cost associated with the service. Simmons also said that the night before at a get together, there was need of an ambulance and many were able to see the staff in action.
“It just worked out perfectly so they got to see what services we could provide to them,” Simmons said.
Tucker County Commission President Mike Rosenau said that he understands the individual operators that support the Commission and its mission to support Emergency Services.
“The ones I have problems with are the major players in this game, this 2% fee,” Rosenau said. “The ones that have the attorneys, the ones that have the knowledge of everything that is going on in the business world. This is an example of how crucial the 2% fee is for the million plus guest that come to our county every year to contribute that little bit that helps us maintain coverage for everyone, the guests as well as the residents.”
The Commission approved Simmons request for funding. Rosenau said that the fund exists solely for use by the Ambulance Authority to maintain services in the County by State Code.
“By State Code, that is the only thing this 2% fee can be used for is the Ambulance Authority,” Rosenau said. “The collection of this 2% can only be spent on the ambulance services in our county.”
