Final Vote on City Ambulance Surchage Monday

Ruston’s Board of Aldermen will vote at Monday night’s meeting whether or not to approve levying a $5 per city electric meter surcharge for emergency medical services.

The fee would not be charged to any property located on the Louisiana Tech campus.

The ordinance would implement a new rate structure as follows:

• Basic Life Support (“BLS”) rate per patient transported – $1,000.00

• Advanced Life Support (“ALS”) rate per patient transported – $1,250.00

• Advanced Life Support requiring specialized procedures (“ALS II”) rate per patient transported – $1,500.00

• Specialty Care Transport (“SCT”) rate per patient transported – $2,000.00

• Loaded mileage rate per patient transported – $21.00

Charges for ambulance services provided by the City to City residents will be billed only to any applicable government and/or commercial insurers of City residents. City residents will be liable only for amounts paid by government and/or commercial insurers (including Medicare and/or Medicaid). Billing procedures will at all times conform to applicable State and Federal guidelines.

Charges for ambulance services provided by the City to non-residents of the City will be billed to non-residents of the City and any applicable government and/or commercial insurers of any such non-residents. Non-residents will be required to pay all balances, except in the case of Medicare coverage allowable amounts for services rendered plus any deductibles and/or co-pays. Billing procedures will at all times conform to applicable State and Federal guidelines. All government and/or commercial payer coinsurance and/or deductible amounts will be collected.

Prior to the vote, a public hearing will be held for citizen input.

See here the complete ordinance.

The meeting will be Monday, August 1, 5:30 PM, Ruston City Hall, 401 North Trenton.

Here is the agenda.

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Ruston EMS – The Numbers

With all the news about Ruston’s EMS (ambulance) service, and how much the Lincoln Parish Police Jury should contribute to the service, we thought it prudent to look at revenues and operating costs for the past few years. Here’s what we found.

Total Revenue:

• 2014: $605,155
• 2015: $688,823
• 2016: $684,940 (projected)
• 2017: $874,133
• 2018: $964,983
• 2019: $881,000 (projected)
• 2020: $903,500 (proposed)

Total Expenses:

• 2014: $634,642
• 2015: $623,165
• 2016: $713,132 (projected)
• 2017: $688,737
• 2018: $705,336
• 2019: $792,986 (projected)
• 2020: $1,172,266 (proposed)

The number from 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2018 are “actual” amounts as documented in the city’s budget documents.

The 2016 and 2019 figures are the “projected” amounts expected to be booked at the end of the fiscal years ending 9/30/16 and 9/30/19. The actual spending is though 6/30/16 and 8/1/19, according to the documents.

The 2020 figures are those presented to the 8/22/19 meeting of the Personnel-Finance Committee of the Ruston City Council, and subsequently approved the Council on 9/9/19. A similar procedure was done for the 2016 process.

Here are the documents:

• 2020 Operating Budget
• 2017 Operating Budget
• 2020 Ambulance Fund
• 2017 Ambulance Fund

Beginning in 2019, the fund’s personnel costs began to escalate significantly.

In 2018, actual personnel cost was booked at $383,363. Estimated 2019 cost was $429,540. For 2020, personnel was budgeted to spend $815,067.

Significant overtime appears to be where some of the extra spending occurred.

In 2019, $100,000 in overtime was budgeted, with a projected ending estimate of $31,409. The 2020 overtime budget amount was $200,000. From 2014 to 2016, the overtime budget ranged from $6 thousand to $16 thousand.

These two budget documents are the only years for which have complete documents We have submitted a public records request for 2021 and 2022 budgets. Those documents will reveal actual revenue and expenses amounts for 2020, 2021, and part of 2022.

We will report what we find once the request is fulfilled.

School Board to Roll Forward Some Millage Rates

Tomorrow night’s meeting of the Lincoln Parish School Board will see a couple of resolutions to adjust or “roll forward” some of the parish property tax rates. Most notable is a 5.32 mil increase in the Ruston School District #1 Bond, from 12.43 to 17.75 mils.

The meeting is set for Tuesday, July 12, 6:00 PM, Central Office, 410 South Farmerville Street.

Here are the documents.

Police Jury to “Discuss and Take Action, Ambulance Service”

The Lincoln Parish Police Jury has the agenda item “Discuss and Take Action, Ambulance Service” listed as item number 9 on the full jury agenda.

The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 12, Lincoln Parish Library Jack Beard Room, 910 North Trenton.

Public Works Committee, 6:30 PM – Agenda

Police Jury, 7:00 PM – Agenda

City to Propose Utility Surcharge for Ambulance Service

An ordinance is on the agenda to be introduced at Monday’s Ruston Board of Aldermen meeting that would levy a $5 per electric meter surcharge to help fund the city’s ambulance service. The ordinance also sets new rates for various levels of service.

City residents would only be liable for the amount that is covered by the user’s government or commercial insurance, or Medicare and Medicaid. Non-residents will be required to pay all balances, except in the case of Medicare coverage allowable amounts for services rendered plus any deductibles and/or co-pays.

A public hearing would be set for next month’s meeting prior to a final vote to adopt or reject the ordinance.

See here the proposed ordinance.

The meeting is set for Monday, July 11, 5:30 PM, Ruston City Hall, 401 North Trenton.

Here is the agenda.