City water bill to tally EMS contribution

GALVESTON — The city council will install a $3 voluntary contribution on water bills to fund new equipment and personnel for the Galveston Area Ambulance Authority.

But that contribution — automatically added into the bill total — will not be activated until the public works department can prove that the city’s billing software can handle a large influx of new money.

That process could take up to six months.

The contribution, which could generate up to $700,000 per year for ambulance service, can be deducted from the bill if a customer does not want to pay it.

In the meantime, the council expects city manager Steve LeBlanc to dig through the budget and find the money to pay for one full-time emergency position for the west end.

LeBlanc is expected to pull the funding from vacant city positions that have already been funded.

Greg Kunkel, chief of operations for the ambulance authority, said that he could probably fill the emergency position within 30 days.

LeBlanc asked that the contribution be restructured when it became evident that the west end, and the entire island, needs at least one more ambulance and medical technician for adequate service.

Reports outlining the ambulance authority’s problems were produce by Kunkel and the West Galveston Island Property Owner’s Association task force.

Part of the problem stems from the fact that the ambulance authority consistently generates expenses that far exceed the revenues collected.

The net effect is that the ambulance authority has had to trim five full-time positions since 1996, according to records produced by Kunkel.

At the same time, the number of emergency calls received by the ambulance authority has been on the rise, said Kunkel.

The ambulance stationed at Jamaica Beach, like ambulances stationed at other island locations, is also used for non-emergency transfers.

During transfers, or when the Jamaica Beach ambulance is forced into use east of 61st Street, the west end is vulnerable.

The city already allocates $150,000 per year for ambulance service and subsidizes the authority’s fuel and maintenance, a cost of about $100,000 per year. The city is also contractually bound to absorb any financial losses on the part of the ambulance authority.

The council was united in its desire to shore up the shortfalls of the ambulance authority. But a heated debate broke out when the question emerged of how to do that.

LeBlanc supported the voluntary contribution, which has the potential to raise up to $700,000 per year. The current $2 contribution, added to the bill by the customers themselves, generates about $8,000 per year.

But council members Lyda Ann Thomas and Dianna Puccetti chastised LeBlanc for wanting to add yet another payment to city water bills.

The $3 drainage utility, a mandatory fee, was recently added.

Thomas and Puccetti told LeBlanc that the ambulance funds should come from the budget.

“It should be funded from the budget, but it never seems to happen,” said Thomas.

“I think we need to find the money in the budget — now,” said Puccetti.

But LeBlanc never backed down from his position until the final vote was cast.

“One thing I want everyone to realize is that when EMS signed on five years ago, it was with the understanding that it would pay for itself,” said LeBlanc.

But through the years, ambulance service started costing the city more and more.

The conversation then turned to the mechanics of collecting the $3 contribution.

Public works director Brandon Wade said that the billing software should be able to collect and properly distribute the contribution.

“It’s not going to be a problem to structure the program,” said Wade.

But city auditor Mike McNeely expressed strong reservations in regard to the billing software.

“The transaction code does not capture that (contribution) amount and put it in our books,” said McNeely, who added that the contributions for ambulance service are currently being tabulated by pencil. “I’m asking that y’all look at that (software) and make sure it works.”

Wade admitted that the billing software, manufactured by Advanced Utility Systems, was “disrupted” when the drainage utility was added.

Wade said he would consult with Advanced Utility Systems and make sure the software is stable before adding the new $3 contribution.

Questions also arose as to whether the city could even spend any new monies.

According to the city charter, budget expenditures cannot increase by more than 7 percent from year to year.

The city is already at the 7 percent cap.

But LeBlanc said that the contribution money is a “pass through” and does not represent a budget line item.