AUBURN – The city will move forward with a municipal ambulance service this fall, despite City Manager Glenn Aho’s misgivings and some concerns among city councilors.

Fire Chief Wayne Werts said his goal now was to debut a city-run ambulance beginning in September. It will be a one year pilot, with staff meeting with councilors regularly.

“We’ll probably be back here once a month to go over the financial and what we’re doing,” Werts said.

Councilors decided during budget hearings this spring to begin offering an emergency transport service as part of the normal fire and rescue response.

The city currently sends EMT-trained fire personnel in a rescue vehicle to most emergencies. City EMTs stabilize patients, and then hand them off to United Ambulance for transport. The city doesn’t get any financial gain from the situation, since insurance companies don’t reimburse for emergency response – just transport.

Under the plan, the city will replace one emergency rescue vehicle with a leased ambulance, responding to some medical emergencies. The city could then bill insurance companies for the medical transport, making back some of the money it spends.

How much money was the question. Aho said he had some doubts about how much revenue the ambulance service could generate based on the pilot plan.

According to that plan, the city would pay $231,620 for the first year, through June 2009. That would include $15,000 to lease an ambulance, $3,000 for fuel and $62,000 for personnel. The rest would go to cover billing software, training, supplies and other costs.

The ambulance should generate $425,000 during that same period – based on four emergency calls per day. Insurance companies can be billed for $350 per call. Overall, the service should bring in $193,000 for the city.

The net revenue decreases in the second year, should the city continue, to $71,000. Much of that is from higher staff costs. It’s a slim margin, Aho said.

“If you are looking for a program to offset the cost for other fire department purchases, something that’s going to generate a lot of revenue, this isn’t it,” Aho said. “What this does is increase service. So it comes down to a question of dollars versus service, because I think the dollars are much less than you’d expected.”

Councilor Bruce Bickford said service was a concern. Auburn’s crews are regularly the first responders, and can provide better care if they stay with their patients the entire time.

And Councilor Ron Potvin said he had more confidence in the numbers.

“We don’t know exactly what we’re going to get, and that’s why we’re doing a pilot program,” he said. “We’re doing this now to see more realistic numbers. And I want to see those numbers.”