Alpena grants ambulance contract change
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ALPENA -- The Alpena Fire Department, which provides ambulance transfers for all of Alpena County, asked the Alpena County Board of Commissioners to amend its contract with the county for ambulance services for next year so it receives all of the tax money from the ambulance millage to help offset rising costs.
The commissioners voted 6-2 on Wednesday to bump up the allocation from the ambulance fund from about $940,000 to about $1,112,542 per year.
The county's contract with Alpena expires at the end of next year and a renewal of the property tax will be on the ballot in August.
No increase in the county-wide property tax for ambulance service is expected, but the duration of the tax could climb from four years to six years, so the purchase of new ambulances can be spaced further out.
The current 1-mill ambulance millage costs the owner of a house valued at $100,000, about $50 a year.
Alpena Fire Chief Rob Edmonds said costs across the board have risen due to inflation and the cost of labor has also risen. He said a fair wage is important to maintaining and adding to staff, so the department can continue to provide the services Alpena and Alpena County residents deserve.
"The ambulance millage is specifically for ambulance operations, which is what we are using it for and we have never asked for the full amount. We have always left some money on the table and, prior to this, we have always taken less than the full mill," Edmonds said. "We are being fiscally responsible with the money and this move just helps ease some of the burden the increased expenses have caused."
Commissioner Brenda Founier and John Kozlowski voted against the amendment to the contract and the increased allocation. Both said there is only a year left on the deal and added that, in most instances, a party paying another for services, would never pay more than what the original agreed upon contract terms.
"It may or may not be a good contract, but we entered into a contract and I think if we were a private business, and someone entered into a bad contract, would you go back and modify it?" Kozlowski said. "I know costs have increased, and this has really bothered me because I wonder if the tables were turned, would the city renegotiate a contract that we did?"
The latest increase in expenses was from salary increases, Kozlowski pointed out too.
Alpena City Manager Rachel Smolinski, who attended the meeting with Edmonds, said in order for the city to lure new hires into the department, it needed to set wages that were competitive with other municipalities.
"We had people turning us down for paramedic and EMT jobs because our wages were too low," she said. "Also, I can't speak for council, but I would think a government-to-government contract where substantial cost increases amendments would be considered. We don't want to supplement city funds for a service that is paid for by the Alpena County Ambulance fund."
Commissioner Burt Francisco said he supported the amendment and allocating the extra money and working with the city to help provide the best emergency response possible had to be priority number one.
"We are two local governments, the city and county, and we're on the same team to provide essential services and support to our constituents," he said. "We all know costs have gone up and I don't think we should hold that over the head of the city. We need to continue to recruit, maintain, and retain our personnel because that will affect our services if people decide to leave or not take a job here."