By Adam Pagnucco.
The county’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Montgomery County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association (MCVFRA) are in a dispute of significant importance to public safety: is the association legally eligible to receive money from the county’s ambulance fee (known as the EMST fee)? The OIG says no. The association says yes. Furthermore, the OIG has recommended that the county recover past fees paid to the association, which would make the latter’s financial problems much worse. Who is right?
One major player in dealing with this dispute is the executive branch, which collects ambulance fees and distributes a portion of them to the association and local volunteer fire departments. (The OIG has found problems with how the executive branch tracks this money.) I asked Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Earl Stoddard, whose portfolio includes public safety, whether the volunteer association was legally eligible to receive ambulance fees. This is what he told me.
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We are consulting with the County Attorney for their assessment. However, as the County Executive made clear in his comments, he knows how important the partnership with MCVFRA is to the delivery of coordinated emergency medical & rescue services in the county. If there is need for a legislative remedy to Chapter 21 to make MCVFRA’s eligibility more clear, he is interested in working with the Council to address it. What he is not interested in is seeking recovery of past EMST funds which he believes were distributed and received in a good faith manner. We have already spoken to numerous members of the County Council who share these sentiments. Therefore, after consultation with the County Attorney, we’ll know precisely what is necessary to rectify the situation both legislatively and with regards to the funds prospectively and retrospectively.
Now, the County Executive is also committed to strong fiscal oversight of the EMST fees and all other county funds, which is independent of the eligibility matter. We spoke with MCFRS and MCVFRA yesterday about the need to develop improved fiduciary management and tracking systems for the EMST fees to ensure that the other findings of the Inspector General’s report are addressed. Our residents must have confidence that all resources are spent appropriately and effectively.