Mike Kerr, White County EMS director, presented a multi-part request to the budget committee on April 14 seeking operational staff and vehicle investments he said are needed to manage rising call volume.

Kerr said the county’s call volume is increasing and crews are wearing down equipment and incurring overtime costs. He asked for two additional trucks (one per shift) with four additional crew members (two per truck) so each shift would have dedicated vehicles, which he said would reduce overtime and vehicle miles. Kerr said several existing ambulances have high mileage—one 2016 model cited with nearly 300,000 miles—and state inspection rules require more frequent inspections for very-high-mileage vehicles.

Kerr also requested funding for a dedicated supervisor/assistant director so the current assistant director is not routinely required to work on-call shifts, and for a secretary with basic EMT training to handle billing and clerical duties while being trainable to move onto trucks. He said hiring a clerk with medical training helps secure accurate billing—the department said billing errors reduce reimbursements—and supports workforce development.

Kerr described an ongoing remount strategy: instead of buying and remounting several trucks at once, the department would like to stagger purchases and remounts to maintain frontline capacity while reducing per-year capital spikes. He requested contingency funding for expensive medical supplies, communications equipment and rotating computer replacements; he said single-item replacement can exceed vendor warranty and market pricing changes have raised costs (for example, lactated ringers increased from about $1.50 a bag historically to $13 a bag in recent months).

Kerr said state and federal reimbursement programs (Medicare/transport reimbursement) and periodic grant awards help offset costs but do not cover recurring staffing needs. He recommended the committee consider the staffing and fleet requests as part of fiscal 2026 planning.