The city is taking the first steps toward a new deal that could keep it in the ambulance business for another nine years.
The St. Albert fire department is preparing its opening position for renegotiating on a new ambulance contract with Alberta Health Services (AHS). The city currently operates two ambulances under contract with AHS and the opening position, which will be submitted at the end of November, will be the start of negotiations on a new multi-year extension.
Ambulance services, which used to be a municipal responsibility, were taken over by the province in 2009. At the time of the transition, some municipalities simply turned over the keys for their service to the province, while others, including St. Albert entered into contracts to provide the service.
Fire chief Ray Richards said AHS covers the majority of the costs through the province, but there are certain areas that weren't in the original contract, which he hopes to address here.
"We have many indirect costs that are not covered. So fire services as an example, we rely very heavily on the support of human resources when we do recruiting or finance to get our reports or IT."
He said those costs might not be part of the ambulance services budget, but are absolutely necessary to keep the service running.
"They are not part of the business line or the account line, but certainly we couldn't operate without them."
The initial contract will expire this year, but the new negotiations cover a five-year period, with two two-year extensions also included as part of the deal.
Richards said a longer term is important for the city.
"When we go buy an ambulance for $250,000 or $200,00 you go into that knowing you are going to have that expense for eight years. So, that is what was wrong with a two-year contract or a three-year contract."
Third ambulance
In the original contract, AHS asked the city to provide two ambulances, but after concerns about response time and some lobbying by the city, AHS agreed to provide a third ambulance to the city.
The third ambulance is not a city-owned unit, but is provided directly from AHS for 12 hours a day, covering the peak usage time in the city.
Richards said in the new contract the city would like to operate the third unit and would also like to see it here on a 24-hour basis.
"From our perspective it would make things better for the citizens of St. Albert in terms of the call volumes and the response times."
Mayor Nolan Crouse also wants to see the city provide the third ambulance, unless AHS can provide a good reason why it makes more sense.
"Unless there is some statistical reason otherwise, why would we want to have two systems?"
The contract came up during city council budget discussions this week. The mayor also said he would like to see response time data on how the service is working.
He said AHS has committed to provide that data and he is expecting it soon. He said having the data is important for the city, so they know if there is an issue.
"I don't know if I have a concern about response times until I see the statistics. I have a concern we don't have statistics."
