Saturday, September 6, 2008

911 gross receipts tax goes on ballot

Julia M. Dendinger News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jdendinger@news-bulletin.com

After several weeks of hurry up and wait, the Valencia County Commission unanimously passed a resolution and ordinance putting a countywide emergency communications and medical services gross receipts tax on the November ballot.

Shirley Valdez, the director of the Valencia Regional Emergency Communication Center, came before the commission for the final time at a public hearing Wednesday evening to explain the potential benefits of the tax.

The quarter of a percent tax would add 25 cents to every $100 spent on taxable goods or services in Valencia County, Valdez said. The tax would apply to purchases made both in the unincorporated parts of the county and in the municipalities.

"Hopefully, this countywide tax is approved and adopted," she said. "This is an important countywide system, and it will be a benefit to everyone." The tax is expected to generate $2 million annually for the county's communications center and emergency medical services.

The ordinance approved by the commission splits that revenue, giving 60 percent to communications and 40 percent to EMS. Currently, the communications center is funded by money from the county and the municipalities.

With the increased revenues from the GRT, Valdez said those entities will be able to contribute less for the operational costs of the communications center and the portion going to EMS will allow the county to establish a true countywide emergency medical services system.

"This will be a huge benefit and relief to the citizens of the county," Valdez said. Currently, there are municipal rescue units in Los Lunas, Bosque Farms and Belen, county fire and rescue units and Living Cross Ambulance, the only certified transport service in the county.

Commissioner Georgia Otero-Kirkham asked if Living Cross was going to add more staff if the tax passed. Valdez said the company was not going to add more personnel.

"Right now, no one has a contract with Living Cross," she said. "If the tax is passed, we could set up an EMS board and set up stipulations and a contract with them.

"Right now, they do what they want as long as they comply with PRC (Public Regulatory Commission) rules. If we had a contract with them, we could stop and look at the services to see if we were satisfied."

If the tax passes, would any of it go to Living Cross, asked Commissioner Lynette Pinkston. Valdez answered no.

Commissioner Ron Gentry said that while Living Cross might not directly receive funds from the tax, they were still getting a service "without paying a dime." He went on to say that when the Village of Los Lunas tried to contract for ambulance service for the village, Living Cross filed for an injunction.

"Living Cross is getting a tremendous service for free. They are a for-profit monopoly with a service permit," Gentry said. "If they are going to get the service from the communications center, then they need to be billed along with northern Socorro County."

Valdez said they were currently in negotiations with Socorro County for payment for the services it receives.

"Is there any reason why we are not in negotiations with Living Cross," Gentry asked.

Valdez said the 911 board has tried to negotiate terms with Living Cross. "We've gone back and forth. We could be in litigation," she said. "The board could consider not giving them calls."

Gentry said the county doesn't want to create a dangerous situation having services cut off to people. "I would like to see us (the county) apply for a transport license," he said. "Our people answer a call, Living Cross gets a free call and show up for the transport, then bills the patient for $1,200 to $1,500. They should pay their fair share."

David Bris, owner of Living Cross, referred questions to his attorney, David M. Chavez.

Chavez said in a telephone interview Friday that Living Cross Ambulance and any other such service provider is strictly regulated by the PRC.

"They have to provide a service at a specific service level, and it's very highly regulated," he said.

He said that the comments at the meeting don't "help the problem. The problem is a lack of funding for ambulance service, fire and rescue (dispatch)."

Chavez said that Living Cross and the county were in negotiation for 30 days about paying for dispatch services. "The status of the contract negotiation was stalled by their EMS board. ...The last offer was by Living Cross Ambulance and we stopped hearing from them. ... The bottom line is that the contract negotiations ended after we submitted a counter offer. They didn't respond."

Chavez said that, when Living Cross bills patients, "they only make a 6 percent profit that's allowed by the state. The revenue is strictly regulated by the state. As a matter of fact, Living Cross is providing service to the unincorporated areas of the county at a loss."

At the commission meeting, County Fire Chief Charles Eaton said the county has a mutual aid agreement with Living Cross. "There are days when their units are all tied up and we have to pick up the calls," he said. "When we provide services, from fire to infrastructure, ultimately Living Cross benefits. They will get a good portion of what this tax does."

The chief went on to say that the disbursement of the 40 percent allocated to EMS is still being worked out. "The bottom line is we have six rescue units. We rely on the municipalities, and they rely on us," Eaton said. "In other communities who have passed this, the funding has gone to paid personnel; we will probably do the same.

"I do want to thank the county for funding the four paid EMTs. Our volunteer numbers are down. It's not just here. Nationwide, there is a problem. With the economy being in a downturn, if people have extra time, they are getting second jobs, not volunteering."

Eaton said that if the measure were placed on the ballot, he would come back to the commission with a detailed plan for the allocation and disbursement of the EMS portion of the revenue.

Gentry said he wanted to be sure this would be a countywide EMS program. Eaton said that because the county had the greatest need, it would probably get the "lion's share" of the funding with the rest going to the municipalities.

"I thought we were forming an alliance, not just dividing up the funds," Gentry said. Eaton said ultimately the tax would be a benefit system-wide.

"Right now, the fire chiefs and EMS folks need something they can take back to their governing bodies and their citizens and be able to say 'here's how much we benefit,'" he said. "The goal is to ultimately build a county-wide EMS system."

Gentry asked if Eaton would come back to the board with a proposal on a comprehensive, countywide EMS system. The chief said he would.

With the commission's approval, the GRT question will be placed on the November ballot. If it is approved, it could generate $2 million annually, with $1.2 million going to the regional emergency communications center and $800,000 to the county EMS program.

That $1.2 million for the communications center could replace the majority of it's $1.513 million budget, which is paid by the county, Los Lunas, Bosque Farms and Belen.

If the projections are accurate, the county would pay $111,084 instead of $536,964 annually, Village of Los Lunas would drop from $537,720 to $111,240, the City of Belen would reduce expenditures from $371,139 to $76,779 and Village of Bosque Farms would pay $13,897 instead of its current $67,177.

E-mail this story Printer-friendly version