Plymouth Fire Chief Rod Miller presented a resolution Monday night that proposes a tiered charge in assisting neighboring communities with Advanced Life Services (ALS).
A $300 flat fee was proposed last fall to help the city recoup some expenses for paramedic assist services, but action on that was tabled due to concerns voiced from the Town of Argos and the Town of Walkerton. Typically, the city splits whatever money is collected from a particular incident with the municipality. However, Miller says that isn’t enough to cover the cost of materials.
During Monday’s meeting, Miller proposed a different solution.
“It’s $225 for tier 1. That’s the basic Advanced Life Support service that we can offer. The second one is a $275 tier 2 which spells out a little bit more in detail the patient care we would give the outlying services when we meet up with them,” explained Miller.
The charges are for materials being used during a medical call for assistance.
City officials have been concerned about subsidizing costs with an operation that is paid for by taxpayer funds with services offered to other municipalities.
“It’s just time that we step up and we take care of this and offset the cost. As I stated in the meeting when Argos was talking about the hardship that this could possibly put on them, I hear them and I feel that, but it’s the hardship it puts on our taxpayers in the City of Plymouth also.”
The council members asked to amend the resolution to include wording that the fire chief review the status of the agreements and the feasibility of the agreements on an annual basis. With that amendment, the resolution passed with a unanimous vote.
