Ambulance move would eliminate six jobs

Outsourcing Kalispell’s ambulance service would result in at least six layoffs and maybe more, according to City Manager Jane Howington.

Howington said laying off six or more firefighters would save approximately $310,300 in the current fiscal year and next. She is not considering fiscal year 2013 yet.

Howington is considering layoffs and outsourcing the city’s ambulance service as a result of a recent arbitrator’s ruling that she says will cost the city an extra $690,000 over three years.

Since three firefighters’ salaries currently are funded through a grant, any layoffs would result in the city forfeiting the grant money, she said. That represents approximately $149,200 in salary and benefits.

Kalispell got the federal grant last year, Howington said, and used it to hire three firefighters.

Decisions will have to be made soon because the city has begun its budget process for the next fiscal year, she said. A draft budget will be formulated in April, with work sessions to follow in May and June.

“There’s an urgency for me to move forward on the implementation,” she said Wednesday following a meeting with the firefighters union.

Those laid off would be the most junior firefighters, she said, although the job reductions could change if a more senior firefighter decides to retire.

She said that Kalispell had as few as 21 firefighters in 2005. Today there are 30 plus the fire chief and his assistant.

Kalispell talked about making a request for proposals to outsource the ambulance service more than a year ago but did not pursue it, she said.

If the city pursues a change in its ambulance service, it could do an intergovernmental agreement with the Whitefish or Evergreen fire departments, which both have ambulance components.

Kalispell also could also use a private company such as Three Rivers in Columbia Falls.

Doing an intergovernmental agreement would happen quicker, Howington said. A request-for-proposal process typically takes 60 to 90 days. She does not currently have a preference for using another governmental agency or a private company.

She doesn’t know how much money would be saved when considering a “cost per run” basis.

Currently city fire trucks do not respond to basic life support ambulance calls, but go on advanced life support calls. Ambulances respond to basic and advanced life support calls.

Up until the new 911 dispatch center opened, the technology was not available to implement this, Howington said, which meant that both fire trucks and ambulances responded to all ambulance calls. The separation of calls now is being implemented, according to Michele Provo, 911 center manager at Flathead County’s Office of Emergency Services.

Kalispell is the only one of the seven largest cities in the state that has a city-operated ambulance service.

Helena, for example, has used St. Peter’s Hospital for ambulance services since the 1980s.

Bozeman uses American Medical Response, a private company. The city of Bozeman has never run its own ambulance service, Fire Chief Jason Shrauger said. 

Kalispell’s current ambulance budget is $777,087. Unless the ambulance service is outsourced, that would increase next year due to the firefighters’ contract, which requires annual salary and benefit increases from $55,701 to $63,631 for the lowest-paid firefighters.

Reporter Caleb Soptelean may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at csoptelean@dailyinterlake.com.