By Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


Like the budget of most departments, Livingston County EMS is feeling the pinch of the COVID-19 pandemic.

EMS Director David Feldpausch delivered an update on the department’s budget to date at at last week’s virtual meeting of the Livingston County General Government & Health and Human Services Subcommittee. Feldpausch noted belt-tightening measures were implemented because of a steep decline in medical runs during the pandemic.

The department is down almost 1700 runs or 22.4 % - which will equate to a significant drop in revenue. Feldpausch estimated that will equate to $600,000 to $900,000 in revenue they won’t make up this year but said things are getting busier. He noted the department did receive one round of Federal CARES Act funding for $157,573.

As for charges for service, Feldpausch said it’s a challenge to understand exactly where they’re at with numbers due to budget delays in billing and collections. He said they knew numbers would be down as run volume is down significantly from COVID-19. He noted COVID threw a lot of challenges and changes related to billing and billing was way behind when he was hired in January but a lot of work is being done. Feldpausch said they had to hold on to a lot of claims and couldn’t bill some things until they fully understood the rules related to COVID, especially after accepting the CARES payment which changed rules on the billing side. He said due to the pandemic things were slow in first few months so revenue numbers are really off but thinks they’re turning the corner. Feldpausch said there will be some big deposits coming in the next couple of weeks because they got the wheels back on track and are heading in the right direction.

Feldpausch commented they’re not in as bad of shape as the numbers show due to different adjustments that have to be made in different quarters and how the budget cycle is set up. Feldpausch said one not-so-bright spot is fees related to educational items. He said due to COVID-19, a lot of programs have been nonexistent or cut in the short term so they have a deficit there but will make adjustments later in the budget year. Feldpausch assured commissioners they’ll do better on the revenue side once they get rolling coming out of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, it was also noted that the department down-staffed slightly during COVID-19 because run volume was down. Feldpausch commented there has been some pressure to start upstaffing but he wants to hold off just a little longer to make sure whatever they do is sustainable. When asked about how to balance revenue and expenditures if needed, Feldpausch said there’s really not much left to trim in the budget other than people so if he can’t get revenues where he wants, then the next cut is probably people. However if he does have to make cuts, Feldpausch said he would probably start with indirect labor and just have to do more with less. He stressed they have to be able to support field response otherwise there’s no point of having EMS.