04/20/92 Board of Public Works Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING APRIL 20, 1992 Thence, East a Distance of 245.00 feet, more or less, along the said South line of said Northeast 1/4 of Section 32, T38N, R3E also being a South Bend City Limit, to the East line of Said Section 32; Thence, North along said East line of Section 32 to the Northeast corner of said Section 32, the place of beginning. It is noted that also attached to the Resolution, as Exhibit "B", was a seventeen (17) page Fiscal Plan for Annexation of Contiguous Territory. Mr. Larry Magliozzi, Senior Planner, Department of Economic Development, advised the Board that the Resolution contained several errors which Board Attorney Mary Mueller corrected. Additionally, Mr. Magliozzi advised that the parcel to be annexed contains twenty-one (21) acres and is presently zoned residential. ADOPT RESOLUTION NO. 17-1992 - WRITE-OFF OF AMBULANCE SERVICES' OUTSTANDING ACCOUNTS Mr. Leszczynski noted that Fire Chief Luther Taylor submitted to the Board a Resolution which will write-off the ambulance services' outstanding accounts which are considered to be uncollectible for the year 1989. This action will close the books for 1989. Chief Taylor noted that during 1989, the City billed a total of $692,128.50 for ambulance services. The total amount to be written off for 1989 is $191,415.50. This results in $500,713.00 in revenue or a seventy-two per cent (720) collection rate for 1989. The Chief noted that the procedure for ambulance billing is to turn the account over to a collection agency after one hundred twenty (120) days from the date of service. After the collection agency exhausts every effort to collect these accounts, they are written off. Assistant Fire Chief Rick Switalski was present and advised the Board that in 1989 the Fire Department expanded their emergency services and also added the neo-natal unit. This expansion accounts for the higher write-off in 1989 than in 1988 and also caused an additional billing of $208,000.00. Chief Switalski informed the Board that this write-off procedure has been recommended by the State Board of Accounts. He noted that even though they write them off, efforts continue to try to collect. Chief Switalski also noted that the national collection average for emergency ambulance collection is sixty per cent (60%) to sixty-five per cent (65%) and the City's collection rate of seventy-two per cent (72%) is above the average. Therefore, Mrs. Mueller made a motion that the Resolution which has been prepared be adopted. Mr. Caldwell seconded the motion which carried and the following Resolution No. 17-1992 was adopted: RESOLUTION NO. 17-1992 WHEREAS, the City of South Bend, through its Emergency Medical Services Department, charged the persons listed on the attached documents for ambulance services; and WHEREAS, the charges have not been paid to the City of South Bend after at least three (3) notices were sent to the person who received the services; and