The Holly Springs Town Council reversed a June decision to turn over ambulance service from Holly Springs to the county at its August 18 meeting after an error was caught, revealing that Wake County underpaid Holly Springs more than $324,000 for ambulance service during the fiscal year. And, the council decided to ask Wake County commissioners to be taken off the ambulance dispatch move-up list, which has the Holly Springs ambulance routinely servicing other county municipalities while sometimes leaving Holly Springs without a manned ambulance inside town limits.

The original decision to give ambulance service to the county was made despite concern about ambulance response times by the county’s dispatch processes. The way the ambulance was dispatched would not have changed with the decision, and staff said at that time that the move would save the town money as the town’s ambulance is driven by a town-employed driver. The town also pays for maintenance and repairs on its ambulance.

“Obviously, you didn’t have the correct (financial) information,” said Fire Chief Cecil Parker at last week’s council meeting.

Parker added that, with the new figures, retaining a town ambulance was cost effective. The county cut Holly Springs a check for the owed money, but Parker could not pinpoint how the error occurred; he said different county employees gave him different reasons for the error. He said county staff told him the issue would be corrected. Parker said town staff wondered where ambulance revenues were going but that “every bit of information” showed the town was getting its money. A Wake County paramedic riding in the town ambulance enters bills into a computer, Parker said. The bills are then advanced up a chain of county employees, he said.

“Someone should have caught it,” Parker said.

Town Finance Director Drew Holland said the town is now monitoring ambulance revenues monthly.

The council decision to request to be removed from the county’s dispatch process came after councilmen expressed disappointment in the county’s ambulance service.

The county dispatches ambulances based on the closest ambulance to the call, and when an ambulance is not in a certain zone, another ambulance travels to that area. If the Holly Springs ambulance is not in town, the county sends an ambulance to a station at Hilltop-Needmore or at NC 55 near US 1.

“They move them around like chess pieces, depending on who’s there,” said Town Manager Carl Dean. In addition to the town’s ambulance, which is housed in the station off Holly Springs Rd., a county ambulance is parked at the station off Avent Ferry Rd. However, Parker said the county ambulance is manned only between 11 a.m. and 11 p.m. and only when county employees are available. Parker said when other county rescue employees call in sick, or because of a larger turnover in county employees, the paramedics assigned to the county ambulance in Holly Springs “go elsewhere” to serve during their shifts. Parker said that he had no idea whether county ambulance workers would show up to work the ambulance off Avent Ferry Rd. at 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m. or not at all – or whether they would leave early during their 12-hour shift.

“We’re getting shortchanged here,” said Councilman Tim Sack. “If you can’t count on that ambulance being there on a daily basis, it’s doing us no good.”

The town is to contact the county to request to be taken off the move-up dispatch system. Parker said, if the county agrees to release the town from the system, the Holly Springs ambulance would serve other towns when needed, but that being taken off the move-up dispatch system would allow the Holly Springs ambulance to return to town after going on a call instead of being dispatched to a different municipality at the county’s discretion.

Holly Springs is the only Wake County municipality with its own ambulance service, but Apex is beginning its own service in January, Parker said.