SALYERSVILLE – The Magoffin County Fiscal Court met in special session on Thursday, May 28, discussing a large bill for the jail and a potential contract for ambulance services.
“I’ll be honest with you, the jail has worried me much more than the ambulance service,” Magoffin County Judge/Executive Don McFarland told the court, referring to the large KACO insurance bill the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center’s board could not pay and recently asking the four counties – Magoffin, Johnson, Martin and Lawrence – to cover it, otherwise the jail would have to close. “I worry about priorities – payroll, our workers, I worry about our roads. I worry about an ambulance service and I worry about the jail. Mark McKenzie, the judge in Johnson County, has been working with KACO on setting up a payment schedule that might be more feasible, especially for Martin County, which has really been struggling with coming up with their one-fourth that was owed from the jail. This is a problem really none of us caused, we just inherited, so we’re trying to fix it. Hopefully, there’s some things in place to help fix it in the future. The jail is just really, really expensive to keep up. It’s not just us – it’s everybody in Eastern Kentucky struggling with it.”
The fiscal court approved to pay their portion of the bill, pending any other better solutions made, with Judge McFarland explaining he was going to the jail board meeting later that day. The total bill owed by the jail was more than $260,000 and had to be paid by June 20. At the May 28 jail board meeting, all four counties committed to paying their portion of the bill and the jail will remain open.
The court considered two proposals regarding ambulance services for the county, one from Rapid EMS, LLC, and the other from AmeriPro Health. Rapid EMS proposed a $15,000/month subsidy for the county through the end of the year, then $23,000/month next year and a 5% increase annually after that. AmeriPro, which is who the county has currently, proposed to provide two fully staffed ALS ambulances in Magoffin County 24/7, monthly arrangements of attending monthly fiscal court meetings, guaranteeing one ambulance in the county at all times, but two parked here (one could be called out at some point). The proposal is locked in for five years, at a total of $21,533 per month. McFarland said the county has enough money to cover the cost through the year without a tax increase, reiterating it is his hope to not have to impose a tax for ambulance services. He also explained the ambulance services have to have a subsidy from counties to stay out of the red, unable to depend on Medicaid and Medicare to pay enough or in a timely manner to stay afloat, noting most Eastern Kentucky counties are paying at least $40,000 per month. Judge McFarland also explained the AmeriPro proposal is already partially subsidized by ARH.
The fiscal court approved AmeriPro’s proposal, with Judge McFarland explaining he will also talk to AmeriPro’s president to encourage hiring people for Magoffin County when possible for those positions.
The next regularly scheduled Magoffin County Fiscal Court meeting is tentatively slated for June 16 at 6 p.m. in the Magoffin County Court House Albert Patrick Building.
