Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Quay County government should consider paying more to receive ambulance services from the city of Tucumcari, according to city officials, who debated the issue with Quay County commissioners Thursday in a joint work session.
City Manager Jared Langenegger showed ambulance service statistics indicating that 17 percent of city ambulance calls are from outside the city.
While ambulance services were originally designed to be self-sustaining, Langenegger said, large infusions of money from the city’s general fund have been necessary to keep the service operating in recent years.
In 2016, the city’s general fund kicked in about $407,500 to keep ambulance services afloat in the city, which is over half of the ambulance service’s $758,600 operating budget, according to Langenegger’s report. City records also show a steady decline in billing revenues, from more than $1 million in 2012 to about $563,000 in 2016.
Meanwhile, general fund contributions have increased from nearly $38,000 in 2012 to $407,000 in 2016.
Langenegger said salary costs have been rising as the city competes to keep emergency medical technicians and paramedics on staff to maintain 24-hour, service each day. Ambulance personnel pay that was minimum wage only a few years ago has risen to $10 and $12 an hour in order to keep pay competitive, he said. In addition, uncollectable fees from services rendered to persons unable to pay remain high at around $238,400, or 31 percent of the operating budget.
County Manager Richard Primrose said he would look into possible options, but the county’s health care-related discretionary health care funding is limited, especially since the state has cut funding for the Safety Net Care Pool. The care pool funding, which covers some Dan C. Trigg Memorial Hospital operations, was reduced in response to cuts in federal Medicaid funding for the program.
Tucumcari District 1 Commissioner Ralph Moya suggested the city might have to consider reducing the county area for which it can provide ambulance service.
District III County Commissioner Franklin McCasland responded, “You have to remember that a lot of city tax revenue comes from county residents who shop in Tucumcari.”
David Crane, a Tucumcari psychology counselor, added another complication in that he faces difficulties in transporting mental health patients who require urgent mental health services.
Crane works with the Quay County Sheriff’s Department and the Quay County Detention Center under contract to deal with mental health issues.
He said he does not like to send mental patients having a breakdown to jail or to the state psychiatric hospital in Las Vegas. Sometimes, however, he has no choice, he said. The problem is a shortage of transportation options for mental health patients.
Crane requested that the city or the county obtain another ambulance in order to accommodate the needs of mental health patient transfers.
County Sheriff Russell Shafer and T.J. Rich, director of the Quay County Detention Center, supported Crane in his request, with Shafer saying the sheriff’s department is not equipped to handle mental health patients, especially when they exhibit dangerous behavior. Rich added that the jail is also ill-equipped for confining and monitoring mental health patients.
Members of both commissions said they would look into options to respond to Crane’s requests.
County funding for the Tucumcari Public Library and the possibility of adopting four-day work weeks for both county and city employees were also among the topics discussed at the Thursday workshop.
County commissioners said they would consider the city’s request to raise the county’s annual contribution to the library to $2,500.
All commissioners agreed the matter of four-day work weeks was feasible but should first be discussed with citizens to find out if it would pose an inconvenience in their use of government services.
District I County Commissioner Sue Dowell and Tucumcari Mayor Ruth Ann Litchfield, both former teachers, said they have worked under five-day and four-day schedules as teachers, and there were pros and cons to both systems.
Dowell said four-day weeks would make it difficult for many who live outside of Tucumcari to access services at the County Courthouse.