Cottage Grove’s mayor says providing ambulance services to neighboring towns is costing his citizens money.
The city of Cottage Grove provides emergency medical services for its own residents along with Grey Cloud Island Township, St. Paul Park and Newport. The services, Mayor Myron Bailey said, are currently costing the city money because of inadequate reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid.
“The service runs at a loss, and the residents of Cottage Grove are subsidizing the service,” Bailey said.
Bailey laid out his concerns in a recent Facebook post and said he had asked his fellow city leaders to contribute to the tune of $51,734 for St. Paul Park, $49,064 for Newport and $7,000 for Grey Cloud Island Township. He also said if the other cities would not contribute, Cottage Grove would consider handing the territory over to someone else who might not be able to provide as prompt service.
Neighboring city responses
Newport Mayor Laurie Elliott said the situation is complex and nuanced.
“At this time, our position remains that this is a Cottage Grove enterprise, and that management and operations of EMS fall under Cottage Grove’s direction and authority,” Elliott said.
She also said that she believes the matter should not have been “debated or negotiated” through social media. Doing so does not lend itself to productive policymaking, she said.
St. Paul Park Mayor Keith Franke echoed Elliott’s sentiment, as did Phil Dupre, Grey Cloud Island Township’s board chairman.
“St. Paul Park is disappointed that the Cottage Grove mayor has resorted to social media to discuss this important issue,” Franke said.
“It’s just unnecessary to debate this in a public forum,” Dupre said. “It’s just not right. Then you get people all riled up and afraid they’re gonna lose their ambulance service.”
Franke said that the situation has been an ongoing issue since the 1990s, after Cottage Grove took on providing EMS services to all four communities.
“We are very empathetic to Cottage Grove’s statutory and financial responsibility to provide EMS coverage for the city of St. Paul Park, as they themselves applied for the licensing and designation of this area to be their Primary Service Area,” Franke said. “With that designation comes the requirement to provide EMS service and enjoy the revenues obtained and the costs incurred over the years.”
Franke said that because Cottage Grove chose to provide the coverage, it cannot legally “stop services.” Instead, it can reduce costs, subcontract services and retain ownership of the service area, retract services and let another provider take over or “re-engage with the cities to work out a better solution and potential cost-sharing model,” he said.
He stated that St. Paul Park, Newport and Grey Cloud Island Township have never agreed to provide reimbursements for EMS services to Cottage Grove, since the disbanding of SoWashCo EMS in 1999.
Next steps
According to Elliott, Cottage Grove submitted a contract to all three cities, which raised several concerns.
“We were told the agreement was intended to help pay for a new ambulance, with 77% of the cost assigned to the three communities, even though we account for roughly 30% of the calls,” Elliott wrote in a response on the city’s website, newportmn.gov.
She went on to state that the contract also fails to guarantee EMS service in the future, states that Newport already has an existing flat-fee EMS agreement with Cottage Grove and more.
Franke said St. Paul Park’s legal counsel is reviewing the contract.
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“The contract has not included St. Paul Park staff concerns and the nature of the expense is not ours to bear,” Franke said.
Bailey said he does not want to end EMS coverage to the surrounding communities, but is instead hoping to find a financial solution.
All three communities have been in conversation with Cottage Grove to discuss solutions. Dupre said finding one will require the city of Cottage Grove to work with the other three communities in striving to reach a compromise. Franke also believes a solution is possible if changes are made to the proposals.
“We remain willing to review options with Cottage Grove and further review of the proposed contract,” Franke said. “This is a complex challenge that can be addressed if the Cottage Grove Mayor and council would allow staff to work through the nuances and challenges of their PSA dilemma.”
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