Chesterton Tribune

 

 

Council again questions ambulance contract

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By JEFF SCHULTZ

Members of the Porter County Council want to further examine the County Commissioners’ decision in late 2014 to extend the County’s ambulance service contract with Porter Health Care Systems.

The topic came up at the Council meeting Tuesday when Council member Sylvia Graham, D-at large, questioned PHCS CEO Stephen Lunn about an ambulance that was reportedly no longer at the station near Hebron on Ind. 8.

Council member Jeremy Rivas, D-2nd, said the contract for the ambulance service should be up this year only to be corrected by Council President Dan Whitten, D-at large, that the Commissioners had extended it a few more years.

Rivas and Council member Jim Biggs, R-1st, asked why the Commissioners had not approached the Council prior to deciding to extend the contract.

Whitten said he too was “caught by surprise.”

According to minutes from the Commissioner’s Nov. 18, 2014, meeting, Commissioner President John Evans, R-North, announced that hospital officials had contacted him saying “they are aware of the financial straits the County is in” and said they would hold their rate at $750,000, instead of raising it to $1 million for the fifth and final year, if the Commissioners would agree to extend the contract for an additional five years at $750,000.

“I think it’s a great deal they are offering us. We are going to save $1.5 million over the course of the extension of the contract,” Evans is quoted in the minutes.

Evans and the board made up of Commissioners Laura Shurr Blaney and Nancy Adams subsequently approved the measure.

Whitten said he believes the Commissioners have the right to make the decision, but said he would ask that they be invited to the next Council meeting to answer questions. He asked the Council’s attorney Harold Harper to look into what the ordinances decree.

Biggs said that the County has spent $2.6 million on the ambulance contract over the last four years and the extension for the next five years at $750,000 would be a total of $3.75 million.

With the Town of Chesterton in 2013 contracting with Superior Ambulance Service for coverage, Biggs said the County should have discussed the contract again.

“I’m not saying get rid of Porter (Health Care Systems). I’m just saying we should look at other options to confirm we are getting the best price,” said Biggs. “It’s no question that costs for services have gone up.”

A Chesterton Tribune article from 2014 shows Biggs raised the same question then.

The hospital was sold in 2007 and the County has paid for the ambulance service contract using hospital sale sale proceeds, which need a unanimous vote from the Council and Commissioners.

The Commissioners, during budget hearings, include the service in their budget each year which is approved by the Council.

“We have to provide emergency services to this county,” Evans said. “The Commissioners decide the contracts and the Council decides the funding.”

Abatement passes test

Earlier, the Council voted 7-0 to continue the next year of the 10-year abatement for Porter Regional Hospital, at the corner of U.S. 6 and Ind. 49, in Liberty Twp.

Harper said he has reviewed the compliance with benefit forms and found PRH meets the requirements.

According to the abatement agreement approved in 2009, the Hospital was to hire and retain 126 additional employees when it opened its new facility, with at least $7.5 million in new salaries. It also agreed to build $130 million of taxable property and install $20 million worth of new information technology equipment.

The forms state that the Hospital has retained 300 full-time employees since it opened, with $44 million in new salaries. In total, the Hospital has 1,800 employees, with a payout total of $143.8 million annually.

The Hospital reports a total investment of $162.6 million into its facility, and $66 million in IT equipment. This year, the assessed value is $117.3 million.

For 2016, $58.6 million is the amount that is to is to be included in the County’s total assessed value.

County Auditor Vicki Urbanik told the Council the Hospital is wrapping up its fourth year of abatement.

Grease at MOH

Other business Tuesday, the Council approved a $40,000 appropriation already budgeted for royalties at the Memorial Opera House for the 2017 season.

Business Director Scot MacDonald said the Opera House will be performing “Grease” next month and tickets are selling quickly.

MacDonald said there will be a 1950’s theme Sock Hop fundraiser on Friday, July 22, for the community, from 6 to 10 p.m., at the Urschel Pavilion in downtown Valparaiso.

 

Posted 6/30/2016

 

 
 
 
 

 

 

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