NCCo fire companies seek new tax

• NCCo%27s fire companies say ambulance costs ran %245.2 million more than what insurers paid for them last year.
• They want a special property tax assessment to relieve pressure on ambulance budgets.
• State legislation is needed to allow the county to impose an ambulance service assessment.

New Castle County firefighters want a property tax increase to help pay for emergency medical services, but County Executive Tom Gordon said he will fight the proposal, which would require General Assembly approval.

State legislation would be needed to allow New Castle County to create a special assessment on property owners to pay for emergency medical services.

Volunteer fire companies now pay for medical services out of other money they receive, including state and county aid and fundraising.

But 21 volunteer fire departments want a new property tax in the county to avoid digging into other revenue to cover the cost of providing medical services.

Last year, volunteer fire departments statewide were forced to use $8.4 million from other state aid and donated revenues to cover expenses; in New Castle County, that amounted to $5.2 million in medical expenses not covered by insurance reimbursements or other sources.

"That's huge," said Dan Burris, president of the New Castle County Volunteer Firefighters Association. "Nobody wants to raise taxes. No one wants to add a surcharge and nobody wants to pay any more than they do."

But the high cost of providing EMS services has to be dealt with, Burris added.

"There's a countywide service that's being provided and in order to provide it you are losing money on it," Burris said. "There are so many years you can do that before saying that something has to give."

But Gordon said he doesn't believe it's a good idea to increase property taxes for the fire companies. Gordon said he would fight the legislation before it made it to a House committee for a hearing.

"I'm always against increasing the property tax," Gordon said. "It's not something we asked for. We're going to try to work with the fire service to help them find other sources of revenue."

At Monday's County Council hearing to examine Gordon's proposed budget, Councilman Bill Bell asked county Chief Financial Officer Mike Coupe if capital money for infrastructure projects could be used for fire company operating expenses. He said the cost of providing emergency medical care is particularly difficult.

"I'm trying to research every possible avenue that we can take a look at so that we might be able to enhance their grant in aid to better enable the 21 fire departments to continue operating and sustain critical life-safety services," Bell said.

Coupe said capital money can't be used for any kind of operating expenses. Bell said he would continue to search for ways for the county to provide the fire companies money.

"We've got to do better than what we're doing," Bell said.

The problem facing emergency medical service providers is twofold, Burris said. Emergency medical services requires full time, professional staff and the cost of paying the salaries and benefits eats away about 76 percent of the EMS part of the fire company's bigger budget. On top of that, revenue for medical services is simply not keeping pace with the cost of providing basic life support service.

Sen. Bruce Ennis, D-Smyrna, said much of the problem, aside from personnel cost, stems from fire companies not recouping what they define as the full cost of providing transport or medical service. Ennis, a co-sponsor of the bill – House Bill 278, chaired a task force examining the funding of ambulance and EMS services in the state.

An EMS run typically costs around $500. Under the current billing system, Medicaid pays about $62 a run, Medicare $363 and Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield $211.60 per run, according to the task force's February report.

Burris said many companies are not chasing down patients for the remainder owed for treatment when they have private insurance. "It's something that none of us ever want to do," he said.

There are several companies that do, but balancing every outstanding bill would not bring in enough money to sustain EMS operations, he said.

By law, EMS operators can't bill users for the balance if they are covered by Medicaid or Medicare. It's on the companies to make up the remainder, he said.

The state's volunteer fire departments operate as nonprofits and their financials are largely kept out of public view. But each year, departments undergo audits by the Delaware State Fire Prevention Commission and submit their financials to the General Assembly, said Warren Jones, executive manager of the Delaware Volunteer Firefighter's Association. The state association supports the legislation.

Members of the fire, rescue and emergency services will be attending the New Castle County Council's public safety committee meeting to make a pitch for more money, Bell said. The meeting will be held at 3 p.m. on April 8 at the Louis L. Redding City-County Building at Eighth and French streets in downtown Wilmington.

Reporter Adam Taylor contributed to this story.

Contact Jon Offredo at (302) 678-4271 or at joffredo@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @jonoffredo.