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Facing a medical-personnel dilemma, Franklin County’s ambulance-service provider has asked the Finance Committee to provide $600,000 to offset losses from inflation and having to pay higher wages.

Rob Webb, regional director for Priority Ambulance LLC, doing business as A&E EMS of Franklin County, which is under contract as the county’s ambulance-service provider, addressed the committee on Jan. 5.

He said he is with Priority Ambulance’s Knoxville branch, and the company is a national medical-transportation and healthcare-services provider. He added that Priority Ambulance provides emergency and non-emergency ambulance services to municipalities, counties, hospitals and healthcare facilities in 13 states under a family of local brands, including A&E.

Webb said trained ambulance personnel have gone on to other jobs that pay better salaries at a time when they are highly sought after in the field. He added that the circumstances have financially plagued A&E’s operations.

Webb said A&E’s salary level has been between $14 and $16 per hour. However, medical facilities such as Vanderbilt University Medical Center and St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville are paying between $25 and $30 per hour, he added.

Webb said A&E had to increase its salary level by about 25 percent just to compete with the companies paying higher wages. He added that A&E has started to get some of the employees back, but the pay increases have led to a financial shortfall, making it difficult for the company to operate.

Finance Committee Member David Eldridge, a county commissioner, agreed to research the issue and draft comparisons to ambulance services in other counties to gain a better picture about what Franklin County is up against.

Eldridge said Franklin County’s government operations are also facing a difficult financial path ahead, and the County Commission needs to do all it can to combat inflation and the related negative financial consequences.

“It’s just a huge problem,” he said. “We’re already facing a difficult challenge, but I don’t know what the answer is.”

Webb asked if the county could not fund the full $600,000, would it be possible to provide half that amount and adjust operations to offset A&E’s financial losses?

He used an example that A&E has four full-service ambulances and might be able to get by with one or two less at certain times when demand would be reduced.

Eldridge said a $600,000 appropriation would weigh heavily on taxpayers’ minds.

“We do what we can to help our taxpayers, and this is the first time I’ve heard about this,” he said, referring to the financial request. “Our taxpayers are going to be paying more than just $600,000.”

Eldridge explained the problem is not going to go away and will only escalate in subsequent years.

The committee agreed to meet on Tuesday at 6 p.m. — one hour before the regular County Commission meeting at the Courthouse — to consider Eldridge’s findings.

Plans are to be able to make a recommendation to the commission about what direction to take to solve the problem.