Request By:
Ms. Judy Mougey
Coordinator
Paramedic Emergency Ambulance Service, Inc.
P.O. Box A-L
Russell, Kentucky 41169
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
Your letter raises questions pertaining to ambulance service districts.
Pursuant to KRS 108.110(1), the affairs of an ambulance service district must be controlled and managed by a board of directors appointed by the county judge executive with the approval of the fiscal court (where the district consists of one (1) county) and city legislative bodies. The legislative body of each city of the first three classes, or if there is no such class city, the city of the highest class located within each county in the district shall appoint one (1) additional director. KRS 108.110(1)(g).
QUESTION: If the tax board contracts for ambulance service, can they own title to vehicles and equipment purchased with tax money, and if there is existing equipment and vehicles prior to the forming of a district, can they change titles to such over to themselves when they were purchased with state and federal money?
Prior to the creation of the ambulance service district for the eastern part of Greenup County, the Paramedic Emergency Ambulance Service, Inc., was created as a nonstock, nonprofit corporation to provide ambulance service for the eastern part of Greenup County. As an arm of that corporation, the Greenup County Emergency & Health Services, Inc. was created to acquire title to ambulances and allied equipment necessary for ambulance service. Between the two nonprofit corporations, two ambulances and equipment (for a total of $60,000) were acquired. At present the Greenup County Emergency Corporation holds title to one (1) ambulance and $20,000 of equipment. The Paramedic Corporation holds title to $20,000 of equipment; and the ambulance service district holds title to one (1) ambulance and $20,000 of equipment, transferred from the Paramedic Corporation. The two ambulances and equipment were purchased with state and federal grant money.
The ambulance service district wants to acquire the two ambulances and the equipment (costing originally $60,000) without any consideration. The Paramedic Corporation does not want to part with the ambulances nor the equipment since it is presently operating an ambulance service in the eastern part of Greenup County.
The ambulance service district has executed a contract with the Paramedic Corporation for furnishing ambulance service within the eastern portion of Greenup County. While Paramedic is not enfranchised by the county, it is not necessary, since KRS 108.140(9) permits an ambulance service district to contract with a corporation, inter alia, for providing ambulance services within the service district.
The board of directors of the ambulance service district has the authority, under KRS 108.140(9), to contract with private persons, partnerships, or corporations for providing ambulance service to the residents of the district as long as such services utilize vehicles, equipment and personnel which conform to all requirements of KRS 108.080 to 108.180. Under KRS 108.140(1), the board has the power, in providing for ambulance service for the district, to purchase ambulance vehicles and all other necessary equipment and employ trained personnel which meet all federal and state requirements.
In our opinion, the district board has the authority to acquire vehicles and equipment for ambulance service with district tax money, and the authority to directly administer an emergency ambulance service for residents of the district. See KRS 108.090, and KRS 108.105(4). However, under KRS 108. 140(9), the ambulance service district has the option to contract with a private person or corporation for providing ambulance service to residents of the district. We understand from you that the board of directors of the service district decided to exercise that option, and it executed a contract for ambulance service with Paramedic Corporation, with which you are connected as its coordinator. Under KRS 108.140(9), the board of directors of the district may acquire directly the necessary ambulances and equipment to be used by Paramedic under the contract, or it may simply permit Paramedic to acquire the ambulances and equipment. These are merely choices of contract. If it (the board of the district) chooses to own such ambulances and equipment, it will have to acquire them for valuable consideration after advertising for bids pursuant to KRS 424.260. See KRS 45A.365, where the district has elected to come under the Model Procurement Code. The pre-existing ambulances and equipment do not have to be sold and transferred to the district as a gift or for valuable consideration. The district cannot even negotiate for the sale of the ambulances and equipment. Under the facts given, the district has no authority to take over one of the ambulances and a part of the equipment owned by Paramedic.
QUESTION: If the service is contracted to a private service, can the tax board hold money from the service district to pay salary and maintain an office for their own use? All records and books are maintained by the private service.
We understand that you, as Coordinator for Paramedic, the contracting party with the district for furnishing ambulance services within the district, will keep all the records reflecting the budgeted and contract amount for the corporation and disbursements in connection with the maintenance and operation of the ambulance service for the district. You will be available at all times to produce and explain the records relating to the contract with Paramedic to the board of directors. The board, you say, contemplates hiring a personnel relations man, but whose function will in no way reflect the total financial and operative facets of the contract.
It is our opinion that KRS 108.140 would authorize the board to employ an administrative aide in supervising or coordinating the contract, but only if such employment is actually necessary for the district to adequately administer the contract. You have indicated that such employment is in reality unnecessary. Under a disputed factual situation, only the courts could resolve it. However, the Court of Appeals has written that the law does not require the doing of a vain or foolish thing. County Board of Education v. Fiscal Court, 221 Ky. 106, 298 S.W. 185 (1927). Obviously the ambulance service contract needs no unnecessary expenditures.