GARFIELD — With annual payroll expenses nearly as much as projected income, fears surfaced of financial trouble in VAS Ambulance Service Corporation.

Treasurer Sharon Barnett said her projections, using figures from 2009, would result in a deficit of $78,000 for 2010.

Those fears are unfounded, according to board member Cris Henry, also a Finance Committee member.

The projected income for 2010, according to Barnett and Henry, is $240,000.

A draft expense budget for 2010, prepared by operations manager Richard Wynne, showed total payroll expenses of $191,837.

Wynne projected total expenses of $264,976.

In January 2010, expenses for payroll - including salaries, taxes and worker’s compensation - were $15,273. Based on the January 2010 payroll expenses, the total for the year would be $198,549.

Finance Committee members agreed to meet again at 5 p.m.

March 18 to consider ways to “shave off” expenses, according to Henry.

“We need to be proactive, not reactive,” Grady Allen, board member, said.

“I’m not going down gurgling,” Barnett said.

The largest increase in expenses for VAS has been personnel, according to financial records. In 2008, payroll costs were $38,430 and $28,089 in 2007, according to IRS forms.

During the years VAS operated as a volunteer service, there wereeither one or two employees in the office with annual salary costs ranging from $25,560 in 2006 to $38,430 in 2008.

Salary costs were $167,100 in 2009, after hiring four emergency medical technicians in March 2009, then two more in April 2009.

The board of Volunteer Ambulance Service of Northeast Benton County reformed the corporation as VAS Ambulance Service Corp.

on Feb. 17, 2009, removing the volunteer status of the corporation.

Barnett estimated income to decrease from Emergency Medical Services District funds because of foreclosures on properties. The $40 annual fee is collected on property taxes.

In the fall of 2008, residents in the EMS district voted in favor of increasing the annual dues from $15 to $40 in order for VAS to become an Advanced Life Support ambulance service. Arkansas Department of Health regulations require a paramedic on all ALS ambulances.

In addition to EMSD income, VAS relies on money collected from billing for ambulance runs.

Donations and fundraisers add a minimal amount of money.

Henry said cash flow will increase in coming months because a new company is providing billing services. He anticipates receiving $10,000 a month in billing.

Trinity Medical Billing took over billing in April 2009.

Billing receipts for February 2010 were $4,701.03.

Financial reports for January 2010 show a deficit of $12,311, which is more than the $10,184 profit recorded for the entire yearof 2009.

Forms filed with the Internal Revenue Service report how much money the ambulance service received from Benton County:

◊2006: $54,157

◊2007: $52,386

◊2008: $133,571

◊2009: $164,243

The amount dramatically increased in 2008 because the annual dues were raised from $15 to $40.

VAS: Finances reviewed

“There’s a whole lot of folks out there who don’t want us to make it,” Henry said. “I assure them that we can do what we were asked to do by June 2011, if not before; we’re constantly working toward that goal (becoming an Advance Life Support ambulance service) right now. We’re not hiring EMTs anymore, we’re committed to only hire paramedics.”

News, Pages 1 on 03/10/2010