League City City Council voted 7-1 to amend a mutual aid agreement with the city of Dickinson to increase fees for dispatched emergency medical services at its April 28 meeting.
The backstory
The two cities first entered into the agreement in 2020, under which the requesting party would provide EMS services and later reimburse the other cities, according to city documents.
However, League City has seen an increase in EMS requests from Dickinson, and the reimbursement rates established in 2020 no longer reflect the cost to League City of maintaining EMS readiness, according to city documents.
City Council approved the following new rates:
- $375 per non-transport response
- $1,700 per transport
The new fees represent a 150% and 70% increase, respectively, from those in the 2020 agreement, according to city documents.
Those opposed
Council member Sean Saunders, who voted against increasing the fees, said he understood the city’s decision to charge Dickinson fees due to the large number of calls, but pointed out that other cities do not do so.
“No other city charges each other for mutual aid throughout Galveston County,” said Saunders, who has served in the Baytown Fire Department since 2000. “The only two [agencies] that do are Galveston County and League City, who charges Dickinson.”
Saunders said he opposed higher fees, especially for mass-casualty calls that require more than one agency to respond.
Saunders said he worried that if League City increases its fees, Dickinson might opt to seek aid from cities farther away, putting victims in life-threatening situations at risk, where time is of the essence.
“A month ago, Dickinson had a shooting that involved seven people,” Saunders said. “League City transported two of those people, so League City would have made $3,500 off of a shooting that nobody, including the leadership of Dickinson, could have accounted for.”
The breakdown
City manager John Baumgartner said that before implementing the fee, League City received more than 200 calls a year, prompting the city to implement fees, which led to a decrease in calls from Dickinson, who sought EMS support from the Galveston County Health District.
A year ago, Galveston County began charging Dickinson for EMS services at a higher rate than League City currently charges. Since then, League City has received nearly 150 calls, prompting it to consider raising the fee.
Those in favor
Council member Chad Tressler said he felt the reason League City is the only city in the county that charges a fee is that the city borders Dickinson, which he felt had been “abusing” the agreement.
“When I look at our numbers compared to other cities, we’re not having an issue with mutual aid,” Tressler said. “In other words, they’re giving us aid as much as we’re giving other cities.”
Council member Courtney Chadwell, a League City Fire Department volunteer, said maintaining the equipment and personnel to run EMS is costly.
“It’s not our responsibility to subsidize Dickinson,” Chadwell said.
Mayor Nick Long said the city has increased its fleet of ambulances by three in recent years at roughly $500,000 per vehicle.
“We’re not profiting from this rate at all,” Long said. “This is the rate that it costs to run those ambulances.”
