Accusations of Bait and Switch Tax Measure
COLUSA, CA (MPG) – The Colusa County Board of Supervisors on Sept. 12 authorized Sierra Sacramento Valley Emergency Medical Service Agency to issue the request for proposals to place two full time Advanced Life Support ambulances on duty in the county 24 hours per day, seven days a week, using the proceeds from Measure A, a special tax measure passed by local voters to support ground ambulance services.
Once a contract is in place, it will mark the largest exclusive taxpayer subsidy ever given to a private ambulance company in the State of California, officials said.
The county expects the half cent increase on every $1 spent on taxable goods and services in Colusa County will generate over $2 million annually, although nearly half will go toward government administration and billing.
The RFP process has sparked division in the county among a majority of the local fire districts over sidestepping the Citizen Oversight Committee, which County officials and proponents of Measure A promised voters – in community messaging – would be in place to make recommendations on how the money would be spent, including whether to contract full-time services from a private provider or fund ALS, or a combination of services utilizing basic life support ambulances, through the local fire agencies.
Instead, the Board of Supervisors had already decided on contracting with a private provider in December 2021, long before the tax measure was placed before the voters on the Nov. 8, 2022 ballot and the oversight committee established, County Administrative Officer Wendy Tyler confirmed.
The ballot language did not specify that the money would be solely used as a corporate bailout and funding for the overseeing agency, nor did the language for the advisory committee state its purpose was to “rubber stamp” how the money was spent after the fact, said the westside fire officials, who believe the additional funding still won’t support a private enterprise with a guaranteed annual cost of living increase.
“The chiefs, the firefighters, the commissioners, and the directors on each one of those fire boards worked really hard to get this measure passed in their communities,” said Michael Doherty, a director on the Arbuckle Fire Protection District board. “We have very good people on that oversight committee. We have businessmen, businesswomen, former school board members; we have MBA holders that do international business; we have some really involved people. Let’s leverage their intellect and their expertise and look over these numbers and have their input. That was the way that each community could be involved in this process, and we kind of skipped that.”
Doherty, among others, said by not having the oversight committee look at proposed revenue and make recommendations for a sustainable plan – or weigh in on the RFP – it was going against what the public was told the committee’s role would be.
Tyler, however, said the plan all along was to craft an RFP, written by SSVEMS staff, the County ad hoc, and Colusa and Williams administrators that will offer $1 million in annual subsidy to an ambulance provider, with exclusive territorial rights, and $800,000 annually to SSVEMS for administrative (billing) costs. The oversight committee will provide oversight after the system is in place.
“Two ALS ambulances have always been the position; if money was no object…what would be the best ambulance service we could provide for our community,” Tyler said.
But since the community lost full ambulance coverage several years ago, local fire agencies invested in basic life support ambulances, which have been found to be very successful at transporting patients with non-life-threatening medical issues, fire officials said.
Maxwell Fire Chief Kenny Cohen and Arbuckle Fire Chief Casey Cox believe the citizens would be better served by looking at multiple ambulance service models and giving the tax measure a little time to realize the actual funding before issuing a contract for millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies exclusively to a private provider, which was not how Measure A was presented to the voters in community meetings.
“If a county writes a blank check to an ambulance provider, they are stuck with paying for two full time ambulances that sometimes sit all day and do not move,” Cohen and Cox both noted in letters to the Board of Supervisors.
Williams Fire Protection Board Chairman Doug Turner and Fire Chief Jeff Gilbert do not believe only $5 million of the $10 million tax revenue from Measure B will sustain two contracted 24/7 ambulances for five years, as the RFP was first drafted, with a guaranteed 3% annual cost-of-living increase, which could leave taxpayers on the hook for even more money out of the county’s general fund.
Gilbert said prior to the election, SSVEMS estimated $125 per hour per ambulance ($1.5 million) would be needed to support two ALS units operating 24/7, and that costs for services have gone up to more like $183 per hour or $2.6 million now.
“I don’t think this is going to work,” Gilbert said. “We’re going down this road. If fuel costs go down, our tax revenue is going to go down but, yet, this RFP has a minimum 3% increase every year no matter if the CPI is lower or not. Do the math; it’s not going to work out.”
Gilbert said that for an ambulance system to be sustainable, it will have to be based on a collaborative effort of ALS, BLS, and mutual aid, with alternative BLS transport vehicles being used a lot more than they currently are.
Colusa, Williams, and Maxwell all have alternative transports, although Gilbert said he would not speak for the other chiefs.
“We can improve our system,” Gilbert said. “I do not believe this RFP is the right way, right now.”
Sacramento River Fire Chief Jeff Winters supports the RFP and was the major proponent for Measure A.
“A lot of people have done a lot of work; a lot of time has been spent on this, and the county has spent money on this for the consultant,” said Winters, who led a charge for two full-time ambulances for five years. “I think anything short of approving this today is going to set us back another year.”
Winters said the county spent two years talking about an ambulance system based on contracting two ALS ambulances with a private provider.
“If for some reason it does not work out and we have to go back and revisit it, then that is the way it has to be,” Winters said. “But we need to move forward, and I think we owe it to the voters who voted for this. They expect something to happen.”
Although there were still many unanswered questions raised by the fire chiefs, including whether the county was misleading or vague with the voters about the tax measure and oversight, the Board of Supervisors voted 4-0, with Chairman Kent Boes absent, to allow SSVEMS to move forward with the request for proposals to see what the response will be by private providers.
Supervisor Daurice Smith said there were still issues that needed to be addressed but thought it would be a disservice to the citizens to stay in a constant reactive mode to a lack of ALS ambulances that must cover such a large geographical area as Colusa County.
“We have to start,” Smith said. “We can’t keep waiting. We are collecting the funds; we are doing our best…This is a starting point. This is not the finishing point.”
Smith said she wants the oversight committee to be very involved, but only after the county has the system in place and the board has a “secure service for the community.”
However, Smith was not comfortable with proposals guaranteeing a five-year contract with a three-year extension and moved to reduce the RFP to a three-year contract with a two-year extension.
The board agreed.
Although SSVEMS has the only legal authority to accept or reject proposals or issue a contract, Vice Chairman Gary Evans said he was comfortable the agency would defer to the board’s recommendations to reject any proposal, if they did not like what they see, or make necessary adjustments until they get a proposal that will work for the county. H