The underlying question about Bradford City’s request for
financial help from its neighbors in the Tuna Valley for ambulance
service has revolved around two apparent issues – funding and
“fairness.”

Representatives of the outlying municipalities have pressed city
officials to find out if the ambulance service makes or loses money
– apparently presuming the request for financial support was
predicated on need.

The Era has attempted to divine that answer as well but with
conflicting results.

On Oct. 1, Mayor Michele Corignani told a reporter, “If this is
a question whether or not the ambulance service does make money for
the city, the answer is, it does.”

She went on to say that the matter, instead, is about
“fairness.” Residents of the outlying areas have benefited from the
ambulance service and, thus, should help pay for it. The burden
should not be on city taxpayers alone.

However, in 2004, when Bradford City raised rates by $50 for
both Basic and Advanced Life Support calls, City Clerk John
Peterson said, “We’re not making money on it.”

Last week, Peterson said, “We don’t look at it as making money.
It is a service we provide for the residents. For example, in the
parks, we charge for some services there but it is not as if we are
making money on it.”

He added, “I am not sure if there is a clear and concise method
of finding out a way to say how you are making money.”

Just this past Tuesday, Fire Chief Bill McCormack told Lewis Run
Borough Council, “It’s not a money maker. If we break even ever
we’re lucky.”

While city officials have said they are willing now and in the
future to provide information on money collected deemed specific to
the outlying areas, the financial figures it has provided for the
current ambulance costs are, at a minimum, ambiguous.

A major obstacle to gaining a clear view of the current costs is
the overlap in both income and expenses because the city’s paid
fire department provides the ambulance service.

Nonetheless, municipal representatives in the surrounding area
have pressed the city to extract figures from its general operating
budget. The Era, too, has pursued those numbers to try to determine
the ambulance service’s viability.

A reporter was told that The Era was welcome to fill out an
“open records request.” The Era had previously submitted two
letters of request to Peterson and McCormack asking for
information.

Peterson added, however, that the city would not provide
information that is not covered by the open records act including
those records that don’t exist, or those that they would have to
“make up” that are not required.

In a previous conversation with Corignani, she, too, suggested
an open records request and explained the city could not take the
numbers and break them down any further than what is provided in
the budget.

Corignani said the only time they have conducted such a
breakdown was for “Honorable Judge Cleland” in a case involving the
city’s garage collection service.

Using the raw numbers provided by Peterson and the framework for
income and outgo offered by McCormack, we have attempted to piece
together a financial picture of the ambulance service.

Feel free to draw your own conclusions.

Here’s what we did –

We started with 19 firefighters (removing the salary of two code
enforcement officers, and the chief’s salary is already a separate
line item) and looked at the salary line item of $735,272 listed in
the general fund budget submitted for 2005.

Dividing that number by 19, we arrived at roughly $38,699 per
firefighter, and multiplied it by the number of paramedics (8) to
come up with an overall salary figure of $309,592.

By the same principle, we divvied up the worker’s compensation
amount of $41,660 to come up with $17,544 for the paramedics
only.

Health insurance totals in the budget are $157,993 and divided
by 19 you get $8,315 which is multiplied by eight to end up with
$66,520.

Life insurance totals are listed at $3,000 and using the same
calculation you arrive at $1,264; for FICA expense, overall $10,484
and $4,146 for the paramedics.

An additional 40 percent of the overall $18,000 gas and electric
costs comes to $7,200.

The use of gas and electric costs was suggested by McCormack,
all other numbers used were used because of a suggestion by
Peterson.

The total of these figures as calculated comes to $406,266. Add
to that the submitted general fund ambulance expenditures at a
total of $132,610 and the total becomes $538,876.

Revenue submitted for 2005 was $425,000, showing an apparent
overall deficit of $132,610.

Making use of other figures provided, the surrounding
municipalities are being asked, specifically, to help pay for costs
of maintenance, call-out time for paramedics, and amortization of
ambulances over a five-year period. That amount alone is
$112,000.