Pauls Valley is set to change ambulance service providers Sept. 1, after the Pauls Valley City Council voted to accept a proposal from American Medical Response (AMR) during a special meeting of the Pauls Valley Ambulance Service District June 9.
The city’s current three-year contract with Mercy is set to expire in August.
Pauls Valley Assistant City Manager Mark Norman said the city sent requests for proposals to 10 ambulance service providers and received proposals from four of the 10.
The requested proposals were for 24-hour advanced life support ambulance service, with two ambulances staffed by a paramedic and an EMT. The contracts would be for a five-year term starting Sept. 1.
Proposals were submitted by AMR, Wadley’s EMS, Mercy Hospital Ada and Miller EMS. All four companies had representatives at the June 9 meeting to answer questions from councilmembers.
Mercy’s bid was similar to their current contract with a cost of $725,000 per year for the first three years of service and a 3% increase annually in years four and five.
Miller EMS, a small Oklahoma EMS provider that currently operates primarily north of the Oklahoma City metro area, bid the service at $936,000 per year with a 3% increase each contract year.
AMR, a sister company to Air Evac Lifeteam, which already has a base in Pauls Valley, bid the service at $560,000 per year with a 3% increase each year. AMR’s proposed price also includes a quick response vehicle (QRV) and a local operations manager. The QRV is a midsize SUV that allows staff to respond when both ambulances are out and provide on-scene support until an ambulance is free or another service can provide mutual aid.
AMR’s parent company is based in Lewisville, Texas.
Wadley’s EMS, headquartered in Purcell, submitted a proposal for $600,000 per year, with no annual increase over the five-year contract. Wadley’s currently operates ambulances in McClain, Cleveland and Garvin counties, including Stratford, Wynnewood and Maysville.
The lack of an annual increase in the Wadley’s proposal, caused concern for councilmembers.
“My feeling is if I need to come back to the town and I need an increase, I want to come to you all and explain why I need that increase,” Wadley said, adding he services eight towns currently and none of the contracts have an automatic increase in them.
Councilmember Bonnie Meisel expressed concern that the lack of an automatic increase could result in unforeseen hikes.
“I’m a little bit concerned about that, that we’re going to have to renegotiate with you every year. And I don’t want that to happen,” Meisel said.
While the bids from Wadley’s and AMR were close, Wadley’s proposal would cost $3 million over the course of the five-year contract, while AMR’s would come in at $2,986,000 over the five-years – a $26,885 difference.
Much of the discussion during the June 9 meeting centered around how the two lower bids would work with the funding mechanisms currently in place to pay for Pauls Valley’s ambulance service.
Pauls Valley currently pays for its ambulance service with a combination of ad valorem taxes collected as part of the city’s 522 EMS District, the city’s portion of a county sales tax designated for public ambulance service, and a water meter subsidy added to municipal water bills beginning in August 2023 to help defray the cost of ambulance service.
Norman said those sources combined have been providing about $580,000 annually. The tiered structure of the AMR bid would allow the city to pay for the first two years of the contract with the funding sources already in place, while allowing time to figure out how to cover the increased cost beginning in year three.
“It gives us three years to figure something out,” Norman said.
As councilmembers considered their options, Meisel said, “This is one of the most difficult decisions to make, because it affects every citizen.”
In making the final motion to accept the AMR proposal, Councilmember Kahn Nirschl said he felt all four services would be “fantastic,” but said he respected the advice of Norman, who has worked on the proposals, and the need to work within the city’s current budget constraints.
All four council members voted in favor of accepting the AMR bid as presented in their packets.
Go to the Garvin County News Star’s YouTube page to see the June 9 meeting in its entirety.