After several years with the same local firm, the county will now have a different company to handle ambulance billing services.

The ambulance billing issue and other items were voted on last Thursday morning, April 29, during a special meeting of Clinton Fiscal Court. All magistrates were present for the busier than usual call meeting, which lasted approximately a half-hour.

Amedysis, a company in Albany, had been doing the local ambulance service billing for the past several years. However, they did not submit a proposal and only one proposal was submitted to the court to provide the service.

During the meeting, court members heard a presentation from the only bidder, 911 Billing Service and Consultants out of Madisonville, Kentucky.

Under their proposal, the agreement calls for the company to receive 6.85 percent of billing fees collected, as compared to the 7 percent rate the county had been paying.

It was noted that 911 Billing Service handle EMS billings only and have a total of 55 such ambulance billing clients in the state, many in the immediate area, including counties such as Cumberland, Russell and Barren.

A company representative also told the court that out of the 55 ambulance services they collect for, their average collection rate is 89 percent.

The new billing company is also going to supply the county with $10,000 in ESO software free of charge and five service pro laptops at a value of $1,000 each.

Following the presentation, which included some questions from court members, a motion was made by magistrate Gary Ferguson to accept the 911 Billing Service and Consultant company’s proposal, with the motion passing by unanimous vote.

The court also approved three separate fund transfers totaling $35,000, all from the Occupation Tax Fund account. Those included $10,000 each to the jail and EMS accounts and $15,000 to the general fund.

The court also unanimously approved first reading of the county’s 2021-22fiscal year budget, which was forwarded last week to the Department of Local Government for its approval.

Second and final reading, along with any changes necessary to the budget, is expected to be held at the court’s regular meeting later this month and more detailed totals will be published upon its passage.

The court passed a resolution with the Kentucky Department of Transportation in the amount of $33,011 for two areas of roadways to be blacktopped in the county, including Hudson Spur and Pleasant Ridge Road.

The county will pay for the blacktopping from the road fund and in turn be reimbursed by the Department of Transportation.

The court also approved opening a totally separate account for funding under the Biden administration’s American Recovery Fund. All counties in Kentucky will receive funding under the federal program, with Clinton County’s share being $1,981,718.

Terms call for the funds to be kept in a separate account and, according to Clinton County Judge/Executive Ricky Craig, the exact use of how the funds are spent is still a work in progress. However, he did note that infrastructure such as water, sewer and broadband were top priorities and federal guidelines on the use of the money would be handed down later from the federal level.

The court also unanimously approved its annual $2,000 donation to the Albany Fire Department and approved the payment of Occupational Tax/Finance Officer Virginia Conner’s annual bond. The bond expires May 15, a few days prior to the court’s monthly meeting.

The next regular meeting of the fiscal court is Thursday, May 20, at 5 p.m. in the downstairs courtroom and is open to the public. However, due to COVID health restrictions, masks and six foot spacing limits are still required.