Fort Wright proposes raising EMS fees

BY KATHLEEN BRYANT | LINK nky CONTRIBUTOR

If you are in an area covered by Fort Wright Fire/EMS Department, you may be looking at increased fees in the future.

During its May meeting, Fort Wright City Council conducted a first reading of an ordinance that proposes to “(amend) the fee schedule for emergency medical and transportation services.”

At the meeting, Mayor Dave Hatter said the city was proposing to raise fees in order to recoup funds required to operate and maintain its fire department. The ordinance also aims to offset costs to taxpayers, he said.

Fire Chief Stephen Schewe explained, in an email to LINK, how the ordinance came about.

“In consultation with our third-party billing company, I was made aware that our fees were slipping behind what other agencies were charging,” Schewe said in the email. “And with the increase in our costs, I made the city manager aware and asked if we should bring this information forward to the mayor and City Council. Together, we felt it needed to be considered, and since it had been five years since it was adjusted, it was certainly time to consider it.”

Budget data shows that the Fort Wright Fire Department has seen increased costs over at least the last three years.

The total general fund expenditure for the department in the 2021-22 fiscal year was just under$1.8 million, a 4% increase from the 2020-21 fiscal year. The budgeted total coss for the 2022-23 fiscal year is $1.86 million, a 4% increase from the 2021-22 fiscal year. See charts for more details on Fort Wright’s costs compared to that of surrounding cities.

Chief Schewe said the city could have had cause to raise the fees before now.

“We adjusted them in 2018, and we feel five years is absolutely too long to look at them given the rapidly growing cost of things,” he said.

Going forward, the city will evaluate the fee schedule “annually and adjust as needed,” Schewe said.

Rapidly growing costs are reflected in emergency medical services (EMS) departments across the nation.

According to the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT), EMS costs have increased, on average, by 8% from 2019 to 2022. Wages, equipment and supplies make up a large portion of these increases. Costs are anticipated to continue to rise over the next three years. In its 2023 survey of EMS departments, NAEMT found that the rising costs are not