Boyceville ambulance district approves $435,000 budget for 2022, including $3 per hour wage increase for EMTs
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
BOYCEVILLE — The Boyceville Community Ambulance District board has approved a budget of $435,200 for 2022, which includes a $3 per hour wage increase for emergency medical technicians.
Several board members expressed concern at the October 13 meeting that if more EMTs were hired, the increase in wages would create a deficit in the 2022 budget.
The budget is written to cover two people on call for 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, said Wayne Dow, ambulance service director.
The Boyceville ambulance service currently has 14 EMTs, which includes one new EMT who was working his second day on the day of the ambulance district board meeting, he said.
The 2022 budget Dow proposed at the ambulance board’s September meeting included a $2 per hour wage increase, but board members approved an additional $1 per hour raise, which added $17,520 to the proposed 2022 budget.
The advanced EMTs will now be making $13 per hour, and the basic EMTs will be making $12 per hour.
EMTs at Boyceville are paid“straight hours.” Some services pay $4 per hour for standby, for example, but then if the EMTs go out on a run, they are paid $40 for the run.
The Boyceville ambulance service continues to have two EMTs on duty about 50 percent of the time with the remaining time only being one person on call, Dow said.
The 2022 budget includes $17,844 in principal and interest on the ambulance station and $28,628 in principal and interest on Medic 10.
In addition, the budget for 2022 includes $17,000 for coverage agreements with other ambulance services to cover those calls when Boyceville does not have enough EMTs at the station.
As the per coverage agreements with other ambulance services, including Colfax and Menomonie, Boyceville pays $500 per run to have another ambulance service respond to a Boyceville call.
Dow reported that the Boyceville ambulance service has gone out on 155 calls for the year as of the October 13 meeting, including 21 calls in the past month.
The Boyceville ambulance was on standby six times for football games, and there were three calls when there was no transport, he said.
The Boyceville ambulance district had 14 transports total, including five by Boyceville and eight by Menomonie Fire, Dow said.
Dow went out on two calls by himself, and there was one call in which Menomonie transported two patients in the Menomonie ambulance at the same time, he said.
Later on, there was a second call for the two same people, and one Menomonie paramedic rode in the Boyceville ambulance, Dow said.
Neighbors
Peter Score, representative for the Town of Sheridan and chair of the ambulance district board, told the other board members they should encourage people they know to consider becoming EMTs.
Score said he has asked himself what he could to do, as a board member, to help the ambulance service.
Because of his work schedule and family responsibilities, Score said he would not be able to do the work of an EMT himself but that he could certainly talk to friends and neighbors and encourage those who would have the time and the inclination to become an EMT.
“Ask yourself — are we doing everything we can to make the organization succeed? It’s about serving our neighbors,” Score said.
Dow noted that he would soon be talking with Tyler Moy, the Boyceville middle school and high school principal, about setting up a program with the school for any students who may want to work toward becoming an EMT.
Assessments
Here are the assessments for the Boyceville Community Ambulance District for 2022 based on a per capita fee of $34.09 and standby charge based on the last three years of runs:
• Hay River — $19,261 standby and $21,694 per capita for a total of $40,955.
• New Haven (part of the area) — $20,693 standby and $20,790 per capital for a total of $41,483.
• Sheridan (part of the area) — $5,420 standby and $4,972 per capita for a total of $10,392.
• Sherman (part of the area) — $16,193 standby and $14,463 per capita for a total of $30,656.
• Stanton — $27,442 standby and $21,242 per capita for a total of $48,685.
• Tiffany — $21,102 standby and $23,050 per capita for a total of $44,152.
• Boyceville — $37,022 standby and $93,365 per capita for a total of $132,387.
