Future of Dodge Center Ambulance in jeopardy after negotiations break down

When Dodge Center Ambulance Director AJ Gengler went to the Claremont City Council meeting last week, he expected to get a consensus about whether or not the city council would accept a compromise to the structure of the proposed Dodge Center Ambulance Taxing District.
But he quickly realized there would likely be another hiccup, to the years long negotiations about whether or not cities part of the Dodge Center Ambulance Primary Service Area should create a Taxing District.
Then the next day, during a townships meeting, it became clear, the current proposal wouldn’t work out, after some of the supervisors expressed concerns.
Under the proposal, the townships wouldn’t have any direct say in the finances or decisions of the Dodge Center Ambulance, and instead would essentially be part of a non-voting advisory board.
“The meeting had great discussion,” Gengler wrote in an email to the DCI following the Oct. 3 Townships meeting. “Unfortunately, it was discovered that there had been a miscommunication or misunderstanding between a few of the townships and myself, or other ambulance service representation.”
Revenue is Needed
The biggest reason for why Dodge Center Ambulance was looking to secure a taxing district is to be able to get support from the community in terms of revenue.
Currently, Dodge Center and Kasson give a few thousand dollars a year, otherwise, all funding comes essentially from billing insurance.
But insurance, specifically Medicare, doesn't pay its fair share, Gengler previously explained.
Dodge Center billed roughly $1.7 million two years ago and only received $650,000 in cash, which causes concern about the long-term plan.
“You can send a $2,000 bill and you maybe will get $400 or $500 if you're lucky from that bill,” Gengler said about reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid.
With 60 to 70% of rural EMS calls being those patients, Gengler knows there needs to be other ways to generate revenue.
It led to issues with operating costs, even forcing the Ambulance recently to cut a full-time staff position, to help even the operating costs, getting it back to a break-even point. The Ambulance is able to do so due to having 14,000 volunteer hours last year.
But when it comes to long term investments, specifically equipment, the lack of funding doesn’t allow for the Ambulance to pay for it, which is the main goal for now, of the Taxing District.
Disagreements
Originally at the Claremont meeting, the focus was supposed to be on whether or not the city council members would support a watered-downed proposal to allow Kasson to have two members on the Taxing District board while every other community had one. Originally Kasson sought to have weighted votes in their favor due to its population and tax contribution; however, Claremont was against the proposal.
However, Mayor Tasha Dahl, said the council wasn’t comfortable making any decision on its stance, until it received reassurances that the townships were on board.
Gengler said the main difference between the joint power board and the taxing district, is essentially, the cities wouldn’t be required to levy on its city taxes, and instead could have a separate tax line on property tax statements.
“The JPB could levy for funds however they chose, such as using the fire number,” Gengler said about the original proposal. “The JPB would then contract with the tax district to provide their funding based on the levy set by the tax district. There was also not full understanding of townships not receiving a vote but having a voice through a tax district. The tax district would have had an advisory board made up of the townships, the medical director, and whomever else the district would have felt needed a voice. This was not favored by some of the townships as they felt their need to have a vote was important.”
He added: “Unfortunately we thought we were making progress but now will have to take a step back,” Gengler said. “Our next step is most likely we will have to have a meeting to include all cities and townships representation to determine the best path forward from here because the current path we are taking does not seem to be the favorite anymore.”
He said the most likely option is to look at forming a joint power board between all cities and townships.
But Gengler knows the option isn’t favorable, in some of the cities.
“This will also be a challenge as cities will have to put this on their own levy which was initially a no by (one) or (two) cities but we must continue to try all options until they are exhausted,” Gengler said. “The one thing we do not want to get lost in all this is that the goal of Dodge Center Ambulance is to continue to provide high quality care that is sustainable and reliable.“
Kasson is one of the communities initially opposed to a joint power board. In a recent email to City Administrator Tim Ibisch he wrote “I don’t think that it's accurate that Kasson was the only city to be more in favor of a taxing district.”
“This process and these meetings have been going on for over 3 years,” Ibisch wrote. “The other cities also expressed interest in the taxing district or we wouldn’t be here right now.”
Asked if there are any other options that could be explored Gengler wrote “The only other option is to do what a lot of ambulance services in the state do, which is to ask for a volunteer payment from the cities and townships each year.”
But Gengler recognized it doesn’t help with its long-term sustainability.
“The issue with this model is that there is not long-term sustainability as we are only asking for a good faith donation and there is no obligation to pay it now or pay it in the future,” he wrote. “Again, this would be done through everyone levying in their own budget.”
Asked how long the communities would continue to negotiate, Gengler said “As long as cities and townships are willing to continue to work on a solution, we will continue to work with them, or until all options are exhausted which there are only a couple other options.”