People who use ambulances from Craven County rescue squads will be pushed harder to pay the bill after action taken by the Board of Commissioners on Thursday.

At the board's first work session on a proposed $89.9 million 2009-10 budget, members voted unanimously to turn over unpaid ambulance bills to the North Carolina Department of Revenue Debt Setoff program.

The action doesn't let the state garnish wages to get the money or require a large added collection fee, like the foreclosure process does for unpaid county taxes. But it does mean the unpaid ambulance bill will be deducted from any state tax refund or lottery winnings of the debtor.

Finding the possibility of more money came during a long day of looking mostly at shrinking revenue numbers, even in areas in which the county expenditure has to go up to keep the lights on.

The action taken could bring in some of an estimated average of $300,000 in unpaid ambulance bills a year into county accounts to help with the growing cost of paying for emergency rescue service.

The money would go to the rescue squads, as the money now collected does, said Rick Hemphill, the county finance administrator. But now only about 60 percent of ambulance bills end up getting paid by those using the rescue squads.

"It will help them quite a bit," he said. "The state would add a small percentage for their trouble, but it's got to be money coming to them from the state. There is no interest."

The county uses the state debt setoff program to collect water bills now, Hemphill said.

"People do get upset and call," he said. "We send them a letter that advises that they have 30 days to appeal. We get some results from just sending the letter."

Craven County's rescue squads have traditionally been operated with mostly volunteers. But there is a growing number of paid emergency medical responders as county squads use more paramedics.

Paramedic service requires more training and certification for responders, and commissioners Chairman Jason Jones said fewer people have the time for the training and fewer are able to get off work in the daytime to answer calls. One squad in his western Craven County district, including the New Bern-Craven County and Fort Barnwell rescue squads, now has only five volunteers.

Commissioners did not begin the day with plans to change the payment method but, as they looked at rescue squad finance requests and the budget recommendations, the discussion began.

"It's something that is not going away," said Commissioner Perry Morris of Vanceboro. "When people think they don't have to pay, they call for things as simple as a stubbed toe."

County Manager Harold Blizzard said that, in situations like that, "the taxpayer is paying now rather than the user."

Commissioners also agreed in principle to continue assisting rescue squad units operating in the county with matching money for equipment grants on a case-by-case basis.

No decision has been made on final budget numbers. Other budget work sessions are scheduled, and commissioners will hold a 7 p.m. June 1 public hearing on the budget in the Commissioners Room of the Craven County Administration Building.

Sue Book can be reached at (252) 635-5666 or sbook@freedomenc.com.

Craven County rescue squad expenditures                 

                                           Requested     Recommended

New Bern-Craven                  $199,790        $136,190

Havelock Rescue                 $245,000        $125,000

Ft. Barnwell Rescue             $180,631        $119,168

Bridgeton EMS                     $288,772       $226,272

Vanceboro Rescue               $360,574        $333,674

Cove City Rescue                 $149,370        $149,370

Township No. 7 EMS            $323,038        $323,038