BY MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
GLASGOW NEWS 1
The board of directors for Ambulance Service Corp., which does business as Barren-Metcalfe Emergency Medical Services, has approved its budget for the coming year, including incorporation of a pay-scale policy for nonexempt employees to help gradually improve compensation over the next few years.
These were among the primary items of business aside from the standard financial and operational reports at the board’s recent meeting.
Jackie Brown, who chairs the board’s Finance Committee, said that group had met April 12 but he had met with members of management before that, and after its review, the three-member panel determined the proposed financial plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1 was appropriate to forward to the full board.
The roughly $6.3 million budget includes a projected $4.85 million in collections for services and $1.63 million from “partners,” with the rest of the revenue coming from miscellaneous other sources such as leases and grants. “Partners” are the taxing district from each county and T.J. Regional Health, all of which contribute toward expenses that are not covered by the other types of revenue.
The personnel line item constitutes roughly $4.3 million of the expense side of the budget. A few of the other top costs include professional fees at approximately $454,600, ambulance loan payments of $339,485, and outsource billing fees of $250,000.
The current year’s originally approved budget was roughly $5.94 million, but the actual budget with adjustments is currently estimated to be approximately $6.05 million.
Joe Middleton, executive director of the ambulance service, explained in some depth a new nonexempt-employee pay scale policy that had been devised after “a full benchmarking study” was completed in January, comparing the pay with that in various member associations and similar providers in the regional market. The plan establishes a grade and step scale that will be made available to employees along with the criteria for assigning pay steps within grades.
Neil Thornbury, a member of the board of directors for Ambulance Service Corp., looks toward Joe Middleton, executive director, as Middleton explains the new pay scale policy for nonexempt employees at the board’s April meeting. MELINDA J. OVERSTREET / GLASGOW NEWS 1
Existing employees – most of which Middleton said would be in Step 2 at this point based on their current pay rate – would advance to the next step effective on their next initial-hire-date anniversary. Employees would top out at Step 6. After that, they will receive a one-time pay amount based on their number of hours worked in the prior year and the percentage of annual pay increase the board establishes. In the example provided, for an employee – a Step 6 critical-care employee – with a rate of $25.07 per hour, that hourly rate would be multiplied by the pay-increase percentage for that year, say 2 percent. That would equal $0.501, and that would be multiplied by the hours worked in the prior year, 2,080 for standard 40-hour work weeks to arrive at a total of $1,042.08. The employee would receive a payment for that amount in the pay period following their anniversary date.
Middleton said this plan was already calculated into the budget the board had just approved at that point.
Board member Garland Gilliam suggested an amendment to the proposed plan that would set a maximum for the top-out consideration payment at $1,500 per year per employee, and the board approved this amended version of the plan.
During this meeting that took place April 26, the board decided to establish the Michael T. Swift Foundation, which has been reported separately, and it went into a closed session for approximately 10 minutes for a discussion pertaining to personnel. No related action was taken afterward.
The board recently revised its bylaws so that it only meets every other month, so the next meeting is not until 4 p.m. June 28, in Fiscal Court Chambers on the third floor of the Barren County Government Center, 117 N. Public Square, Glasgow.
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