TITLE
Title
BUDGET AMENDMENT: EMERGENCY SERVICES STAFFING
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SPONSOR
Sponsor
Jim Albright and Toy Beeninga
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BACKGROUND
Background
In Fiscal Year 2023-24 (through May 19, 2024), Emergency Services has responded to 74,163 calls for service, and transported 45,771 patients. Emergency Services generates the majority of revenue based on the adopted fee schedule by billing for each ambulance trip. Over the course of FY2024 (through May 19, 2024), Emergency Services has generated $19.4 million with an average monthly collection of >$1.8 million per month. Based on this trend, Emergency Services should exceed the revenue budget by >$1.0 million. This additional revenue will offset anticipated overages in Emergency Services, including overtime expenses.
Overtime in Emergency Services is part of the base schedule of many of their field operations staff with scheduled overtime built in, since employees must cover 168 hours in a week and shift change (or an average of 42+ hours per week). Additionally, Emergency Services utilizes overtime strategically to ramp up resources to cover anticipated spikes in call volume. Historically, this additional overtime expense has been covered by "lapsed salaries", however ES is experiencing historically low vacancies, decreasing from a 16% vacancy rate in July 2022 to a current vacant rate of 6%. The County budgets a 4% vacancy rate, or "lapsed salary", countywide. Emergency Services, in collaboration with the County Manager's Office and Budget staff are actively looking for methods to reduce further overtime liability, while maintaining a baseline level of staffing.
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BUDGET IMPACT
Budget Impact
General Fund
$1,000,000 increase User Charges
$1,000,000 increase in appropriation to Emergency Services
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REQUESTED ACTION
Requested Action
Approve a $1.0 million budget amendment to increase appropriation to Emergency Services and $1.0 million in User Charges.
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