By Dave Teitzel / For The Herald
Since 2010, Edmonds has been served by South County Fire and Rescue under contract for fire and emergency medical service (EMS) coverage.
For 2024, the cost of that contract was approximately $12 million. A portion of that contract cost is meant to cover SCF’s cost of transporting a patient via aid car to a medical facility. Edmonds’ current contract with South County Fire addresses these transport fees and states:
“As the EMS service provider for the City, the District shall receive and pursue collection of all Transport Fees in accordance with District policy for transports that originate within City limits. The District shall remit the amount so received to the City, less an administrative fee.”
In other words, Edmonds relies on transport fees charged to the patient or his/her insurance carrier by SCF and forwarded the city to pay a portion of the cost of our fire and EMS contract. These fees total several million dollars and reduce the city’s General Fund fire and EMS contract cost burden.
The problem lies with Ground Emergency Medical Transport payments collected by SCF from patients covered by Apple Health (the state’s Medicaid program) to cover the cost gap when the transport payment to SCF doesn’t cover the cost. It appears SCF views these payments as a different category than transport defined in the Edmonds contract, and believes they are entitled to retain the revenue associated with those payments.
In late 2024, an Edmonds citizen reviewing SCF’s financial reports noticed a portion of the transport revenue collected by SCF was not being forwarded to Edmonds as required in the contract section shown above. The city (including the mayor and council) was notified of this finding and wasn’t aware the funds might have been inappropriately withheld.
According to SCF’s reports, they have been collecting the ground transportation fees since 2019. To date, those fees for Edmonds transports total more than $7 million and continue to grow. Edmonds elected officials now believe these funds are legitimately due to be paid to Edmonds and are pursuing mediation to obtain them. Unfortunately, it does not appear mediation will be complete until after the April 22 regional fire authority annexation vote.
Especially at this time of financial crisis for our city, our taxpayer load can be eased if South County Fire will appropriately and fully remit all transport-related fees to Edmonds as our contract requires. Keep in mind the city intends to ask the voters this fall for a levy lift of approximately $6 million. If SCF remits the full unpaid transport payment amount to Edmonds, it will significantly reduce or eliminate the need for the fall levy request.
Again, our contract with SCF states that it will remit all revenue received from transport fees to the city, regardless of the source of those payments. By withholding these payments, SCF is doing a clear disservice to Edmonds taxpayers. Our taxpayers will ultimately be required to fill a budget gap left by SCF’s failure to forward all EMS transport revenues to Edmonds.
This is yet another reason voters should vote no on Proposition 1, the April 22 ballot measure to annex Edmonds into the Regional Fire Authority. Since there is a pending legal dispute between SCF and the city regarding what portion of transport revenues are due Edmonds, sufficient time is needed to resolve the dispute and ensure Edmonds receives what is likely to be a significant settlement.
This revenue will provide additional flexibility for the city to either pay increasing contract costs with South County Fire or explore other potentially less costly — yet high quality — alternatives to obtaining fire/EMS coverage.
Dave Teitzel is a former Edmonds City Council member.
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