Commission looks into ambulance staff pay

By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET

© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 27, 2001

INVERNESS -- Citing recent reports about the low wages and high turnover at Nature Coast EMS, county commissioners asked the staff Thursday to explore the possibility of boosting the pay for the ambulance crews.

The proposed budget for Nature Coast next year includes a 3 percent merit raise for employees, but commissioners asked County Administrator Richard Wesch to sit down with the system's executive director, Teresa Gorentz, to see if she needs more money to offer competitive pay.

"It's something out there that we're losing employees," Commissioner Gary Bartell said Thursday, as the board wrapped up its second day of budget workshops.

As the Times first reported July 15, starting pay for emergency medical technicians, or EMTs, is $5.88 an hour, a shave above the $5.15 minimum wage. Paramedics start at $8.18 an hour. The wages for both increase anywhere from 13 to 25 cents an hour for every two years of experience they have.

Even with a 3 percent raise approved in May, Nature Coast provides a lower starting pay for EMTs than any of the surrounding counties. Since taking over the ambulance system Oct. 1, Nature Coast has lost nine EMTs and eight paramedics, mostly to neighboring ambulance systems or other higher-paying jobs.

Not only is the low pay driving some workers away, Commissioner Josh Wooten said, but it could make it harder for Nature Coast to attract quality applicants to take their place.

"Nothing against the people we have now, but you wonder what $5.88 an hour attracts," Wooten said. "We have to be concerned about the services to our citizens."

Wesch said the system has filled all of its open positions except for one EMT slot.

Although it helps with funding, the county does not run the ambulance system. The commission privatized the service in 1995 when it hired Florida Regional EMS, a subsidiary of Florida Hospital Waterman, to provide ambulance coverage. When Florida Regional pulled out of Citrus County last fall, commissioners created their own non-profit company, Nature Coast EMS, to run the service.

Commissioners gave control of the company to a board of directors, made up of officials from the medical community and other emergency services. Nature Coast earns most of its revenue from Medicare and other health insurance reimbursements for transporting patients, but the company relies on the county for some financial assistance.

For its budget year starting Oct. 1, Nature Coast asked the county for $754,912.

Although commissioners do not run the system themselves, Bartell said it is still their job to make sure Nature Coast has the resources it needs.

"It's this board's responsibility to have quality service to our citizens," Bartell said.

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