EMS Cost Share Public Questions

This page contains questions that we have received from the public through e-mail, Facebook, phone calls or in person. We are trying to compile all the questions and answers in one location. Many questions have already been answered and this is a way to allow more people to share in the information.

[contact-form to=”jim.wells@cdrky.org” subject=”EMS Share Question”][contact-field label=”Ask a Question” type=”textarea”][/contact-form]

What about putting a fee on the property tax bill like we have for the fire department?
1. The “fee” on the property tax bills is an option. This was suggested by the Crittenden city council (Councilman Mr. Jim Purcell) a few weeks ago. This is a viable option to fund the operation of EMS services for the county. This would require the fiscal court to levy a tax on the property tax bills. Since the tax bills have already bent sent out for this year, the earliest the tax revenue would be realized would be November of 2018. The bigger issue is equally distributing the tax and setting the rate. If this option were utilized, only the people who own property would pay the tax. Setting the rate is a bit more complicated: (rough numbers)
  1. The current assessed value of all real property in the county is about $1,095,088,029.000.
  2. The amount desired to raise for example $1,323,322.00
  3. Divide the value by money needed. The tax rate would need to be set at .121 on the property tax bill. It would be listed as a special district like the library, soil conservation, etc.
  4. If you had a $100,000 home you would pay $121 for the EMS tax.
  5. And that would not leave any room to expand or grow.
2. A little history. This option has been proposed at least three times before and never ended up going anywhere. The latest time was 2010 when the voluntarily $25 fire fee on the tax bill was created. The revenue that fee collects is not even close to the amount needed to provide fire service by a volunteer fire department. In fact Corinth fire department has less revenue now than they did before the fire fee went into effect.
I did see where Dry ridge is getting another new ambulance so money I would think is coming in somewhere?
1. The City of Dry Ridge did just purchase a new ambulance. They also bought one in 2016, purchased a used one in 2015, purchased a new one in 2013 and so on. The city has to continue to update the fleet the same as buying new police cruisers to replace old ones. This is the precise reason the city is asking for the cost share. We are purchasing ambulance on a 2-3 year cycle to keep the fleet rotated because of the miles and use these trucks are accruing. As to the money is coming in somewhere part, the taxpayers of Dry Ridge are paying for a new ambulance so that it can respond to EMS calls in Crittenden or out in the county. That’s why we need to share these costs.
Why not just use AMR?
1. American Medical Response (AMR) is a private for profit company. Actually two years ago they were called Rural Metro and a few years before that they were called Transcare of Kentucky. In fact last month they were bought out again, this time by an Investment Holding company that also owns Air Evac. My point here isn’t that they are private, but rather that is the public has a question or concern about the service they provide, who do they call and in what country? Not to mention, AMR does not have a contract to provide service in Grant County. That means that they are not obligated to even be in the county to make calls. I certainly appreciate when AMR is in town and makes calls so that I don’t have to send a paramedic out of Dry Ridge and leave the taxpayers who are paying for the Dry Ridge paramedic without.
Is there a charge for services?
1. Yes, of course the Dry Ridge Fire Department (DRFD) bills the patients insurance when we transport them to the hospital. We have contracts with insurance providers like Anthem and United Health which means we agree to accept the allowable amounts for services provided. For example, say we perform an intervention like an echo cardio gram or 12 lead while transporting a patient to the hospital and our charge for that intervention is $1000. We bill the patient’s insurance $1,000. But the allowable for that intervention is $200, we only receive $200 for that service. It doesn’t matter how much we charge, we can only hold the patient responsible for the $200. There is no way we can charge more. We are at the mercy of the insurance allowable amounts. Now the $200 we are entitled to may be applied to the patients deductible. That means the insurance pays $0, and the patient is responsible for the full balance of $200. If they don’t pay us we do send them to collections.
Do you have to hire collection agencies to try to get people to pay their bills?
1. Yes. We have a billing company that exhausts all resources before sending the account to collections. The collection company attempts to collect the amount. They get 50% of whatever they receive. If we can make some kind of arrangement we try this before sending to collections. For example we have dozens of patients paying us $5 a week until their bill is paid.
Are there services offered for free?
1. We don’t bill if we don’t transport a patient to the hospital. There is nothing to bill for. We could try to bill the patient for the response to their house but no insurance coverage pays that. And the patient would certainly not pay when the paramedics didn’t perform any intervention or transport them to a hospital. I don’t know if you consider that free or not, but it is not chargeable.
Lack of insurance and paying their bill?
1. For patients that don’t have insurance, those are called “self-pay”. They are billed the same amount as the insurance but since they don’t have insurance, it is solely up to the patient to pay the bill. Even when we send them to collections they rarely have the ability to pay. If so they most likely end up on some kind of payment plan.
I assume you are aware that the city of Crittenden pay about $192,000 a year for Sheriff services but, they are not willing to put out money for ambulance service? This is not fair for young kids that have no decision in this. What if a kid is injured and saving his leg is a matter of time and emergency services. That kids gets to loose his leg because, the city and county will not put out the money
1. Yes, I’m aware the City of Crittenden contracts with the Sheriff’s department to provide police protection. As for the City of Crittenden not willing to pay for ambulance service, you must take that up with those elected officials. As for the City of Dry Ridge, we are happy to provide that service to the kids in Crittenden, all we ask is for help sharing the cost. Nothing more. In fact if the Crittenden fire department would make the response the cost to the city would be even much less. Dry Ridge is not trying to get rich or even make a profit here. We only want to provide the best service possible, be accountable to the public and keep the cost to the patient and the taxpayer as low as possible.
Why aren’t you collecting enough income from the insurance companies?
1. I answered this in question #4. But let me explain it another way. We sign agreements with insurance companies. That allows us to provide services to the patient as an “IN- NETWORK” provider. If you look at your benefits of your health insurance you will see the in network coverages are much better for the patient. If we don’t sign agreements with the insurance companies, we are considered “OUT OF NETWORK” providers. Being out of network leaves a much bigger burden on the patient both in cost and paperwork. The deductibles are much higher leaving the patient paying a much larger portion of the bill, because the allowables don’t play a part. This is how insurance companies control costs. That is good for the patient, but difficult for providers. The allowables are set and nonnegotiable. Simply put, we sign agreements to guarantee some level of payment. Not signing these agreements would translate to less money collected by us and more if not all patients sent to collections.
How can you spend money on Rock n the Ridge and deny people ambulance service?
1. Rockin’ the Ridge is a festival we created two years ago for our citizens and the community. Last year we brought 12,000 people downtown to buy food, drinks and crafts from vendors and local shops. They stopped in local businesses to buy gas and supplies. That is why we have a festival. We provide it as a giveback to the businesses and residents of Dry Ridge. The biggest part of the festival is payed for buy sponsors and vendors of the event. The rest is payed for out of the parks and recreation department. As the event grows we expect to see the festival to become completely payed for by sponsors and vendors.
2. We have never denied anyone ambulance service, ever! The City of Dry Ridge has to make a financial decision. This isn’t about providing service. We are capable of continuing to provide the service we only are asking for help in sharing the cost.
Tell me how dry ridge is paying for country singers to come in here to have Rockin The Ridge but depriving the rest of out of city residents EMS service?
1. I answered this in question # 10 above.
Doesn’t everyone who works in Dry Ridge pay city taxes? Even people who live outside of Dry Ridge? Shouldn’t those tax dollars help those people who pay it, no matter where they live?
1. Everyone who works in Dry Ridge pays an occupational fee (payroll tax) of 1.25%. Yes that money is used to fund a large portion of the public safety expenses as well as other functions of the city. We use that revenue to provide the best services possible to the residents and businesses in the city and those passing through. Much like the thousands of people that work outside the county. They pay taxes in those cities or counties but don’t expect a police officer from Florence to respond to a burglary at your house in Corinth, or an ambulance from Lexington to respond to your house in Mt. Zion if you were having a heart attack. The City of Dry Ridge uses the revenue from city residents and business to provide services in the city. That is why were asking for all the cities to share the costs associated with EMS services.
2. As a sidenote… The county assesses a 2% payroll tax to those same people working in Dry Ridge, why shouldn’t that money be used to provide EMS service to the people who live in the county?
What is the proposal in common language for public please?
1. The plan calls for the 4 cites of Corinth, Crittenden Dry Ridge and Williamstown along with the fiscal court to split the expenses and share the billing revenue all based on the number of calls in each area.
So what does that mean for mutual aide calls?
1. I’m not sure I understand the question. If you’re referring to mutual aid fire calls, nothing changes. We have agreements with surrounding EMS providers (Walton Fire Dist., Verona Fire/EMS, Georgetown/ Scott County EMS, etc) to send an ambulance to us in the event we need more than we have available. These agencies are not required to send anything and especially if they only have one unit available for their own area.
Is this a Narcan problem?
1. I’m assuming that you’re talking about the Heroin Epidemic. No. Narcan is one of a dozen interventions our Paramedics and EMT’s can administer to patients. The number of runs has increased over the past years due to the heroin problem. However, due to the rise in calls, the more overdose calls we answer adds to the increased load on the department.
2. In 2013 Narcan cost the fire department about $5/ dose. Today it is over $40 / dose. The cost to buy the medicine has risen dramatically.
What the % rate that are made in grant co?
1. This question was referencing the post on Facebook stating that EMS calls in Dry Ridge accounted for only 27% of the calls. He wants to know what the other percentages are? If you look at the 1785 EMS calls Dry Ridge responded to last year:
  1. 27% (531) were in the city limits of Dry Ridge
  2. 43% (744) were out in the county
  3. <1% (21) were in Corinth
  4. 10% (139) were in Crittenden
  5. 19% (343) were in Wiliamstown
  6. and <1% (7) were in Jonesville
Can there be a buy-in for service like Corinth used to have or may still have? Live outside the limits and pay a one time fee or a monthly due for service?
1. We don’t currently have a way to do that. It gets complicated with the licensing of the geographical boundaries.
The question remains is why is the ambulance service by the hospital still here if they won’t make calls in the county they are just wasting space boot them out the door or tell them to step up to the plate and do what they are supposed to be doing
1. Facebook Question. The ambulance service by the hospital is AMR. AMR is a private ambulance service that does not have a contract with the county to provide 911 service. They do have a contract with St. E Hospital to provide transport services. While they are stationed in the county they provide 911 responses. They do make runs in Grant County. They are licensed to operate a ground 1 ALS/BLS service in Grant County. We have asked AMR to step up and make more responses. They have tried. They have made several hundred runs that Dry Ridge did not have to make. That is good for everyone. This cost sharing plan takes that into account and encourages AMR to make more runs. But remember they do have a contract, but it is with the hospital to transfer patients, not the county to provide 911 service.
When someone needs an ambulance, the need should come before any other consideration. The almighty dollar is more important than lives.
1. I couldn’t agree more, but for 17 years the City of Dry Ridge has done that. Right now 48% of the entire city budget is allocated for EMS services and 75% of that is outside the city.
Is Dry Ridge currently a fire district or solely a city dept.?
1. The Dry Ridge Fire Department is a municipally owned fire department. That means it is owned, funded and operated by the city.
If they can’t cover areas of the county for EMS then why should they with fire? And my concern is what about the citizens of Jonesville who do not have money to give being we are not an incorporated city
1. Facebook Question. EMS is an extremely expensive endeavor. Dry Ridge made 289 fire runs and 1785 EMS calls. The City of Dry Ridge has the ability and equipment to continue to cover the entire county. We are only asking for help sharing the costs. And Jonesville is not an incorporated city therefore the 7 EMS calls in Jonesville were rolled up into the county numbers when it came to funding.
Doesn’t AMR provide the ems for the county and Dry Ridge cover them when they are out of county so Dry Ridge is not the only ambulance in Grant County so if people are going to say something tell it all and not half there has been an 1101 unit in GC for close to 20 years or do people forget that.
1. We covered this in question #3 & #18.
Would your business, like Grant County and the surrounding cities, to cover 73 percent of your operating cost, and no requirement for you to share your revenues, unless you help them with the business?
1. GC News Letter to the editor by Diane Mincarelli response. Let me clarify what Dry Ridge is proposing. The City of Dry Ridge is covering 100% of the expenses for providing EMS services to the entire county. Only 27% of the EMS calls are in the Dry Ridge City limits. That means 73% of the EMS calls are outside of the city. To be ridiculously clear, we are only asking for the areas that make up the 73% to cover their own expenses and share in those revenues.
Dry Ridge has proposed Grant County and the surroundings cites pay 73 percent of the stated costs to operate EMS in the county with the City of Dry Ridge being assessed the balance, 27 percent. Revenues collected from insurance payments, paid for by county, and city residents are not allocated to offset the payment for their areas shares of the operations costs, but rather are allocated to the organizations providing the service. While this may seem reasonable, it is not, specifically since all operations costs are covered.
1. GC News Letter to the editor by Diane Mincarelli response. Again the City of DryRidge has proposed the county and cities pay the expenses and share the revenues from their own area instead of Dry Ridge paying for everyone. And you are dead wrong about the insurance revenue sharing. We are proposing the each of those area get to share the revenue generated in their area. It comes DIRECTLY off their cost share. Yes it is allocated to the areas that provide the service. Why would we share revenues with a city or the county if they didn’t also accept to share the expenses?
The proposal includes a separation of the cost and revenue sharing formulas. I believe these should be tied, specifically since the funding formula covers 100 percent of the operations costs.
1. GC News Letter to the editor by Diane Mincarelli response. You are correct. There is a separation in the cost and revenue sharing formulas. This is deliberate. There is no reason to share a revenue with an entity that does not help offset it’s own expense. If they would rather have an ambulance come from another location to cover a run in their area, why shouldn’t the agency that sent the ambulance get the credit for making the run? Only one credit can be given for each run. Only the agency that made it should get it.
Grants applicable to the EMS equipment and operations are not considered. These lower the operation costs from which the funding formula is based.
1. GC News Letter to the editor by Diane Mincarelli response. You are correct. There is absolutely no way to know how much, if anything, will be awarded in advance. Not to mention any grants received will go directly to cover the cost of a specific project. There would be no reason to share this revenue. For example, if we applied for and received a grant to replace a piece of old equipment with new technology, that grant money would go directly to pay for that equipment. See, no reason to share that revenue.
Lack of control or checks and balances to contain operations cost growth specifically since the majority of the payment for operations costs are borne by Grant County, City of Corinth, Crittenden, Williamstown and Jonesville.
1. GC News Letter to the editor by Diane Mincarelli response. Dry Ridge is a home rule city, operated by a mayor and six council members elected by the public. All records, budgets, meetings and decisions are subject to the open record laws. All meetings are required to be held in a public place, at a scheduled time and open to the public. There are many checks and balances already in place. These measures have been created to manage the nearly $1.5 million dollar fire department budget. A purchase order system allows only authorized personnel to request for authorization for an expenditure of funds. Once an expenditure request has been made, it follows multiple rules and requirements for approvals. Depending on the amount, the number of approvals vary. Any purchase over $250 requires the department supervisor and the mayor to approve before an authorization is granted. City policy requires any purchase not authorized within the purchase order system be the responsibly of the purchaser. That means if an employee tried to make a purchase and it’s not approved in advance, they are personally responsible for the payment.
Low incentive for EMS collection and revenue services, specifically since Dry Ridge pays for such a small percentage of the operations costs.
1. GC News Letter to the editor by Diane Mincarelli response. All parties involved have a tremendous incentive for a high EMS collection rate. We have worked tirelessly to increase out EMS collection rate since Mayor Wells has been in office. Recently, Magistrate Jacquelyn Riley requested the P&L statements for the city to see what these rates have been over the past 5 years. These audited statements show that from 2015 to 2017 there has been a 67% increase in billing.
Mayor Jim Wells’ presentation uses budgeted FY 2016-2017 numbers in lieu of actual FY 2016-2017 numbers resulting in potentially an overstatement of costs and understatement of revenues. I prefer the actual numbers from FY 16-17 be used.
1. GC News Letter to the editor by Diane Mincarelli response. Actually that is not an accurate statement. Here is where the numbers come from:
  1. The $1,456,737.39 is the current budget we are operating in. If you read the description of the line, it says, “Current FY Fire/EMS Budget”. That is not the 2016 budgeted amounts. The reason we use the budgeted number is because we won’t know the actual amount until after the budget is audited in October each year. The timeline to get numbers to all the entities requires they have a amount before they budget. City budgets are put together in April or May of each year.
  2. The calls by district are actual calls for the previous year. We absolutely know those numbers. Estimating potential future EMS calls are not possible.
The basis for the proposed allocation of operations costs between Fire and EMS based on service calls results in an indirectly stated operations cost of the Dry Ridge Fire Department of roughly $214,000. Is this reasonable?
1. GC News Letter to the editor by Diane Mincarelli response. You are absolutely correct in saying that the cost associated with operating the fire department is $214,253. There is not a more accurate way of breaking down the costs solely the responsibility of the fire department. The City of Dry Ridge has a fire based EMS service. That means it’s all one budget. We determined that a cost based on the amount of calls is the best approach.
I would think that securing EMS service for Grant County and understanding the associated financial obligation, would be an important matter. I am asking the community to please join with me holding the fiscal court accountable to compel a subcommittee for further analysis of the proposal from Dry Ridge, and to seek alternatives available to the county that demonstrates their preparedness to make an informed decision to provide EMS services, which are in the best interest of the county to which they have been elected to serve.
1. GC News Letter to the editor by Diane Mincarelli response. The City of Dry Ridge can’t agree more. There is a TownHall Meeting planned for November 30th at 6pm. We are planning the meeting at the Dry Ridge firehouse. The city council chambers will only hold 89 by code. The fire-station next to the city building can accommodate nearly 450 people. If we need more room we can move the meeting to a larger venue like one of the school gymnasiums or auditoriums. We encourage everyone to attend this important meeting to get all the information and let the elected officials know how important this decision is.
Question to CDRKY.ORG) It is pouring down rain right now, my family is in a car accident in Grant County outside of the city limits of Dry Ridge. Dry Ridge is pulling their ambulance service on Jan 1 if no help is given to them. Who is going to come to my families rescue if I need an ambulance?
1. We hope this does not happen. However, to answer your question, currently the 911 center would attempt to locate an ambulance to respond to your accident. If AMR was available they would be sent to help you. If AMR is not available or they are busy on a hospital transport, the 911 center would call outside the county to Boone, Kenton, Owen, Pendleton or Scott county to find an available ambulance.
Question to CDRKY.ORG) If Dry Ridge keeps their ambulance service within the city border who is going to going to show up if we call for help in the rural areas of Grant County? What will response time be?
1. We are hopeful we can continue to serve all the citizens of Grant county no matter where they are located. The proposal includes placing an ambulance in each of the 4 fire stations. Two Paramedic units will continue to be stationed in the Dry Ridge fire-station. Another staffed ambulance will be housed in Williamstown and run by the paid staff of the Williamstown Fire Department. The ambulances in Crittenden and Corinth will be staffed by their volunteers. But an ambulance will always respond from Dry Ridge if they are unable to respond. Response time is still a question of location.
(Facebook Question) i was always under the the assumption that ambulances were there tp help over a year ago I feel in my yard and couldn’t get up i had my phone with me so i called 911 i have dry ridge address but technically live in Pendleton country it would have been a lot quicker for grant co to help i had tp sit in the rain for at least an hour pendelton co ambulance had to come from Falmouth to take me to grant co hospital. l had broken my left leg i was very grateful for the Pendleton co ambulance for help
1. We agree that some addresses in Pendleton County are served quicker by services from Grant County. Unfortunately, the City of Dry Ridge Fire Department EMS geographical boundary does not permit us to operate in Pendleton County unless requested. We do have a mutual aid agreement with Pendleton County.
(Facebook Question) Perfect time for a private company to come in an get a service contract. The real test will come when someone dies due to no response. Then the county will not be able to pay the judgement. Looks like the state EMS board would step in with some help or solutions. I clearly remember the mess the jail was in when I was a P.O. I had violators begging me to place them in Carroll or Boone. A real shame. It’s been going on for a long long time
1. This is exactly why were asking for a cost and revenue sharing plan so that the City of Dry Ridge can continue to provide EMS services to the community.
What about the people that live in Dry ridge fire dept response are but not in City limits? Do we still get ambulance service if they are available or are they pulling it for everyone outside of the city limits ?
1. If the proposal fails to be supported by the county and you live outside the city limits but within the Dry Ridge Fire area, your will not get EMS services but your fire services will remain unchanged. This is a perfect time to discuss funding for fire departments as well. However, we are only discussing EMS issues at this time.
(Question to CDRKY.ORG) What is wrong with our elected officials? If they have known about this ambulance situation and the cost of it why have they sat on it for so long? They raised taxes on us, they collect payroll tax now. I saw the video where this was discussed during a fiscal court meeting not sure if it was before or right after payroll tax was approved. Where is their preventive measures for taking care of the citizens of the county of Grant? Have the magistrates been doing their research and looking into making services better for the citizens of Grant County or just putting their finger in the dam and waiting and hoping the dam doesn’t break open while they are in office? This is just outrageous that this county is messed up in so many ways. How much do we have to pay to get nothing out of the county?
1. Please understand that The City of Dry Ridge has been footing this bill for 17 years. We are not asking for any new tax to be created. We are only asking for the other cities and the county to help us by sharing the costs of providing this vital service. The City of Dry Ridge is willing and able to continue providing service. With all the cities and county contributing together, we feel we can keep the costs of providing this service manageable. Looking to the future, expenses are going to rise and people are going to expect more service. This cost share lets us share the expenses where the expenses are occurring. This is a much better plan than expecting Dry Ridge to keep paying for it.
(Facebook Question) Wallace Patrick Lance Robinson I have asked that several times. Seems mayor wells wants everyone else to pay just for their budget. Figures just does not add up. How do you separate the fire/ems budgets and personnel? Do not know if you can. I would venture to say there is way more ems runs then fire runs. And what about the times dry ridge does a stat transfer from St.E grant to a northern hospital are those runs counted against williamstown?
1. Mayor Wells doesn’t want anyone to pay for the budget. What Mayor wants is for each of the cities and county to share the expenses and revenues for EMS calls in their area.
2. Not sure which figures don’t add up. We have been as open, transparent and honest as possible.
3. I have answered the question about separating fire and EMS expenses in question # 30 above. But let me try this another way. Separating every cost from the fire budget between fire and ems would be like asking the animal shelter to separate the costs for dogs and cats.
4. I have answered the question about run volume in question #16, 21 & 30 above.
5. It is extremely rare that Dry Ridge would take a transfer from St. E Grant County to another hospital. It has happened under certain situations. And always with prior approval. Since AMR has a contract to provide transfers and Dry Ridge does not, this scenario would be treated just like any other 911 emergency medical call. If the Williamstown truck made the run, I’m sure they would want it counted so they could get their reimbursement.
(Facebook Question) (A.) I don’t know how they are separating the city and rural dept. (B.) How are they separating pay and benefits? (C.) Does that mean the city gets the paid guys and the rural area waits on volunteers? (D.) He (Mayor Wells) comes from Lexington and seems like they want it to operate as such. The guys and gals at Dry ridge do the best they can but they are caught in a political pissing contest. It would be great to each dept become a taxing district and provide fire and ems for their own areas but I know county has to push to help with that.
1. The City of Dry Ridge operates a paid fire department that also provides EMS. We treat every call inside or outside the city the same. Our firefighter, EMT’s, Paramedics and staff perform under difficult conditions and with the highest professionalism. There is no city and rural fire department. 20 years ago there was a Dry Ridge Volunteer fire department, INC. It was a dues driven organization that raised funds to offset expenses for rural fire protection. The fire department FDID # was then as it is now 41186. There was only one department.
2. The City of Dry Ridge is more than just a fire department. We separate pay and benefits by department as most cities do. If you look at the current year line item budget for the fire department (page 4-5) found on the Other EMS Cost Share Documents Page, you will see the fire department staff perform both fire and EMS functions and all the payroll and benefits are in the budget. There is no direct way to separate that.
3. No, the paid staff respond to each call regardless of the location.
4. The staff of the City of Dry Ridge Fire Department are not caught in a “political pissing contest” as you present. Rather they are responding professionally. As for each fire district to have a taxing district, that was discussed in question # 1.
(Facebook Question) Wallace Patrick Lance Robinson I just think that it is crazy that they are a city dept only when it comes to the ems but yet will still provide fire service outside the city limits. I do not know how you separate the city fire and ems and the rural fire personnel. Does that mean that there is only paid people for the city dept.? If you look at his numbers they are dividing the whole budget through out the county ? How are they separating fire and ems budgets ? Are they rolling it all into one ?
1. This has been answered in question # 16, 21, 30, 38 & 39.
If the fire dept. is a city run dept and it employees the firefighters/emt does this mean the people that live in the rural area of the Dry ridge fire area gets paid guys and gals or gets volunteers ? Is there 2 depts set up with the fire commission? A city dept and a rural fire dept ? Seems that if you only want the paid people staying in the city then the area outside of the city limits would get volunteers for fire response is this the case ?
1. The City of Dry Ridge is a paid fire department. If the request for assistance go unanswered, the city will continue to staff the department with 4 personnel 24/7. The crew assigned to the primary EC unit will remain in the city, while the remaining crew will be able to respond to fire calls outside the city limits with call in personnel. This will put a strain on providing fire service outside the city. This is completely subject to change as needs arise.
2. There is only one fire department with the fire commission. This question has been answered in question # 39 above.
If the county decides to help so do the cities, is Dry Ridge staffing another two ambulances? Like Corinth and Crittenden? In the mean time, what if AMR decides to stop the 911 help. Will Dry Ridge be able to cover a double numbers of calls or the help from county and cities would not be enough? How many staffed ambulances do you think are needed in Grant co to cover EMS service? Thank you.
1. If the plan is accepted by the county and the cities and we enter into a sharing solution, we will still staff 2 Paramedic EC units 24/7 in the Dry Ridge station. If Williamstown chooses to house an ambulance, they will staff 1 EC unit from their station in Williamstown. The two remaining ambulances in Crittenden and Corinth will be staffed by their respective volunteers. This plan does not include any provisions to staff additional trucks. However by sharing expenses, if staffing needs to increase, the cost will be shared by all the entities.
2. If AMR were to decide to stop making any 911 calls in Grant County we would certainly see an increase in run volume. Depending on this call volume, if the three staffed units in combination with the two volunteer trucks can’t handle the load, adding staffing could be considered.
3. There are many days Dry Ridge covered the entire county due to AMR not being available. Dry Ridge has managed to cover the entire county. We are hopeful the City of Williamstown will staff the 3rd unit, thus making the total number of units the same as now. At this point we believe three staffed units and two volunteer units are capable of covering the entire county.
I will try this question one more time so maybe it doesn’t dissapear misteriously. With the county help, how many staffed ambulances we need to cover the whole county? If AMR decides not to help with 911, is this help going to be enough to cover for the near 2000 calls that AMR does every year? Will we get an accurate amount of what this will cost every city?
1. This question has been answered in question # 42. We apologize for the delay in answering your question. We have been working with the magistrates and others revising the cost sharing model as requested by the fiscal court. These changes will be presented at the town hall meeting November 30th. Please attend this important meeting.
If I’m reading this correctly and If this plan goes through and the ambulances at Crittenden and Corinth are still going to be staffed on a volunteer basis. Does that mean that if AMR is out of the county and both Dry Ridge ambulances are out as well we are going to be waiting for a volunteer ambulance from from the other end of the county that may or may not be coming anyway? Volunteer is just that volunteer and if you take what could be the only two people available in Corinth to make a call in Crittenden or Corinth to Crittenden aren’t you still leaving the county uncovered without the guarantee of having service?
1. If an AMR unit is not available, both Dry Ridge EC units and the Williamstown EC unit were all out making calls, the 911 dispatch center would dispatch the EC units from Crittenden or Corinth. If after 2 minutes (as required by State EMS Regulations) go by with no response, then the mutual aid agreements are activated. The dispatchers would call the closest neighboring county ambulance. The mutual aid agreements are in place for this exact scenario. Great question!

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