County agrees to help fund local EMS

by Meg Olson

Fire district #5 is poised to become the county’s newest ambulance service, which could bring $36,000 dollars in funding to the Point.

“We’ve been robbing our fire tax for years to pay for an increasing level of emergency medical service,” said fire chief Mike Campbell. “We felt Whatcom County was collecting enough from our community to provide a level of service equal to the rest of the county.”

Whatcom Medic One provides ambulance and paramedic service in Whatcom County. The service is run by the city of Bellingham and gets half its funding from county tax dollars and half through user fees.

According to fire chief Mike Campbell, the district has negotiated an agreement with the county and the Bellingham fire department under which the district would be included in the Whatcom Medic One program. Under the agreement the county would pay $18,000, half the costs of operating the district’s intermediate life support program, while the other half would come from user fees. “We’ll be part of the same system as the rest of the county and it’ll be on the same fee scale as the rest of the county.” Campbell said. He expects that if the district transports an average of 72 patients per year, as it has historically, user fees will easily generate another $18,000. “Much of that will come through the Canadian health care system,” he said.

The county has agreed to reimburse the district $9,330 paid to train its emergency medical technicians to provide intermediate life support (ILS) in 2000, and in 2001 the district’s ambulance will effectively become medic five, the county’s fifth ambulance. “All operations in 2001 will be covered under the Medic One joint powers agreement,” Campbell said.

Campbell said the changes would only affect Point Roberts residents who needed ILS and transport. “Our basic aid program has continued to get a county subsidy, which will stay the same,” he said. “If we come to your house and rescue you, you won’t be charged.”

What will change, Campbell said, is who will get the money when a patient does need transport. Now, a patient who needs ILS and is taken to St. Joseph Hospital by ambulance is transferred to Medic One en route to Bellingham after local EMTs have treated and stabilized them. Medic One bills the patient an average cost of $950, but the local emergency medical program gets none of the funds back. “People in Point Roberts have been paying for this service three or four times,” said commissioner Dan Levy. “They pay taxes to the county, they pay taxes to the fire district, they pay their insurance company or Medic One. They need to see those dollars back in the community.”

What will happen after 2001 is up in the air, as the county and the city are now negotiating the future of their current agreement. At the end of October, the city almost canceled the contract over budget disagreements, threatening to leave the rest of the county without paramedic service at the end of the year. A last-minute agreement saved the current contract for 2001, but Campbell said there were serious questions about the future of the system. “Everyone knew it was time to get the planning process rolling just in case,” Campbell said, adding he had been appointed to represent fire chiefs from rural districts and small cities in negotiations with Whatcom County and Bellingham. “A Point Roberts solution will be part of any long-term plan.”

With the adoption of state initiative 722, Campbell said it was essential that the fire department stop using fire taxes to pay for emergency medical services. The initiative limits future tax increases to two percent and rolls back tax increases from 1999. “We’re at 72 cents today, and it would roll us back to 69 cents if it’s upheld,” he said. “We’d have to refund $9,000 to taxpayers.” Commissioners would also have to reduce the six percent increase planned for this year. In total, the initiative will cut district funds budgeted for next year by $20,000. “With the agreement we’re now considering we can continue to provide the same level of service, even with 722,” Campbell said. “Without it, we can’t.”

Campbell stressed that the details of the current agreement are not cast in stone, and that commissioners would still need to discuss the proposed changes and gather public input. “Even though this is on the table, that doesn’t mean we’re taking it,” he said. A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for December 7.

In other long-term planning considerations, Campbell said a merger with fire district 13 in Birch Bay isn’t imminent, but it isn’t being ruled out either. “We are in a planning process and any number of options are being discussed,” he said at the November 7 fire commissioners meeting. “The worst options will fall out.”

Campbell confirmed that he has had discussions with district 13 chief David England about the possibility of the two districts combining forces in the future. “Both agencies are working on strategic planning and both of us have brought it up,” he said. “Throughout Whatcom County we’re all going to have to work together at some level in the future. The math is that the bigger you are, the less each homeowner will pay and the more service you’ll get. Any move that will bring better service and more cost savings, we’ll look at.” Fire commissioner Dan Levy also confirmed he had discussed the option with England.

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