NEGATIVE EMS FUND BALANCE A FOCUS OF WASHINGTON CO. AUDIT REPORT
Washington County Commissioners received an audit report on Tuesday that was generally positive on a broad level, but highlighted some potentially troubling trends for the EMS department.
Lewis Crain of Rutledge Crain & Company, PC presented the audit report for the year ended December 31, 2022. He told the court that the county’s general fund balance, or the primary operating fund, increased over 2022 by $2,679,900. The county also underspent its budget by $347,119.
However, Crain also said the EMS fund had a decrease in balance of $544,461, the result of an increase in expenditures over budgeted transfers from the general fund. Per the audit report, the EMS fund balance at the end of 2022 totaled $1,699,925 in the negative.
Crain said this has been “building for a while” and that the county needs to start “trying to turn the curve back up”, or else more burden will be placed on the general fund to make up the difference.
Crain explained that the auditing firm did an internal schedule over the past five years because it was concerned about the negative number going up. He said it has continued to increase, even if the pace may have slowed.
Commissioner Kirk Hanath replied that EMS’ purpose is not to be a money maker but to be a public service. He also mentioned that the possibility exists to bring in more revenue.
Commissioner Candice Bullock referred to the nationwide struggles in healthcare providers receiving payment from insurance companies for air ambulance services, saying that is likely a reason for the EMS fund balance going down. Hanath agreed but reminded her that, according to Crain, this issue goes back several years. Hanath said the court will address this in budget.
Beyond the EMS fund, the audit report had a brighter outlook overall. Crain said the county was very conservative in budgeting for revenues and receipts and “more than beat” its projections. He said the county was also aided by a good year of sales tax revenue. He concluded that the county’s year-end general fund balance of $13,831,949 will be good to have in case the economy gets worse.
Hanath said the credit goes to the elected officials and department heads who are doing “an outstanding job” of managing their budgets. He said commissioners have received criticism in the past for overspending, but this report says the opposite.