Trending
Members of the newly formed Brooke County Ambulance Authority learned Friday the county's ambulance service has been struggling with a lack of funding in recent years.
Brooke County Commissioner A.J. Thomas said he and the other county commissioners are taking some measures to alleviate the problems but longer-term solutions are needed.
Thomas, who represents the commission on the board, said higher wages offered by other area ambulance services have made it difficult to retain staff.
He said it won't be possible to raise their pay to the levels at some agencies, but the commission on Tuesday will consider hourly raises of $1.75 for paramedics and emergency medical technicians.
Paramedics currently receive $18.25 per hour while emergency medical technicians are paid $14.75 per hour. Thomas said the commission will consider hourly raises of 50 cents for all staff in the 2022-23 budget.
But he said the commissioners will need to draw from funds outside the ambulance service's line item to support that, something they can't afford to do indefinitely.
"We want to pay our EMTs and paramedics what they deserve," Thomas said, "but we have to be able to sustain it."
He said the commission has subsidized the ambulance service in the past because the county's ambulance excess levy, reimbursements from insurance providers and other revenue haven't been enough to maintain the agency's operations.
Thomas said the salaries of Andy Nickerson and Jeff Luck, who head both the ambulance service and the county's emergency management agency, had been divided between the two agencies' funds until last fall, when they were moved entirely into the EMA fund to offset expenses for the ambulance service.
He said the commission is looking at reformulating the ambulance excess levy without raising taxes.
One option being mulled is replacing the county's fire levy with an emergency services levy that would include the ambulance service and fire departments while other county agencies in the ambulance excess levy would be funded through a separate levy.
The current ambulance excess and fire levies are up for renewal in 2025.
Thomas noted the commission has made plans to build a new central ambulance station, addressing poor conditions reported at the Marshall Terrace station near McKinleyville. The Follansbee station on land near state Route 2 and not owned by the county also would be closed.
The commission has hired Thrasher Engineering for $105,700 to design the station on a small lot near the intersection of Pleasant Avenue and state Route 2 north of Wellsburg.
Core drilling, to determine the land's suitability, is slated to occur in the near future for the project, which the commissioners hope to complete in 18 months.
Thomas said the central station would be an asset because it would bring the ambulance service's staff and equipment under one roof, making all of them available to both ends of the county.
He said the ambulance service has relied much on ambulance services in Hancock County and West Liberty, which is not something the commission wants to continue.
ickerson, director of the ambulance service, said a central location will cut utility costs entailed with two buildings.
Luck, its deputy director, said rising costs for equipment also have been an issue, with the price more than doubling for many items.
But he and Nickerson said there have been some positive developments for the agency.
Nickerson noted the commission has approved the purchase of two new ambulances and a used one in very good condition as well as hydraulic cots that mechanically lift stretchers into the ambulances to alleviate the work of ambulance crews.
Thomas said much of that was purchased through federal pandemic relief funds.
The ambulance authority was formed in recent months after the commission learned state code calls for such a board to oversee county ambulance services.
In addition to Thomas, its members are Wellsburg Police Chief Mike Allman, Joe Kafton, Susan Phillips and Amy Spurrier. On Friday, Allman presented bylaws from other ambulance boards which they may use to draw up their own.