A. 
Fee Formula. A daily service fee for the operation of the utility shall be established from time to time by ordinance of the city council in conformity with RCW 35.21.766. The amount of the fee shall be based upon cost of regulating ambulance services and the cost of providing the EMS program as determined by a cost-of-service study done pursuant to RCW 35.21.766(3). Those costs, after transport charges and the general fund contribution, shall be divided among Richland residents and other occupants based on a calculation of demand costs and availability costs, consistent with accepted principles of utility rate setting.
1. 
The rate attributable to availability costs of the utility shall be uniformly applied across all user classifications within the utility.
2. 
The rate attributable to demand costs shall be established and billed to each utility user classification based on each user classification's burden on the utility.
The fee charged by the utility shall reflect a combination of the rates attributable to both the availability cost and the demand cost. The resulting fees shall be assessed to identifiable use classifications. Fees shall not exceed the revenue requirements to cover the costs of the utility, as authorized by the city council by adoption of an annual budget and subsequent amendments.
B. 
Classifications. The daily service fee shall be assessed on each of the following utility user classifications:
1. 
Family residential.
2. 
Multifamily residential.
3. 
Adult family homes.
4. 
Assisted living facilities.
5. 
Twenty-four-hour nursing facilities.
6. 
Group homes.
7. 
Physicians' clinics.
8. 
Schools.
9. 
Commercial/business.
10. 
City public areas.
C. 
Collection of Fees. The fee shall be collected on a monthly basis in accordance with RMC § 13.06.310 from each owner of a residential unit (for the family residential classification and the multifamily classifications to the extent that each unit is separately billed for utilities) and from each owner of a facility (for classifications other than family residential and separately billed multifamily residential units). The occupant of each unit within the above classifications, as applicable, shall be responsible for payment of this service fee for the availability and use of ambulance services. Multifamily residential units or other multi-unit properties that are billed for other utilities through a single utility connection shall be charged a service fee for each active or occupied unit. No service fee shall be charged with respect to any vacant building or unoccupied unit or parcel.
D. 
Service Fee Exemptions/Reductions.
1. 
Any change in the occupancy or use of a parcel, or any other change in circumstance that eliminates application of an exemption from the service fee, shall immediately make the affected property subject to the applicable service fee. The service fee shall become due and payable as of the date of the change in use and shall continue until the parcel again meets exemption requirements.
2. 
Any customer seeking an exemption from payment of the service fee and/or conversion from covered to exempt status must file a written petition with the finance director seeking a determination as to whether a specific parcel satisfies the exemption requirements set forth in this section.
3. 
The combined rates charged shall reflect an exemption for persons who are Medicaid eligible and who reside in a nursing facility, boarding home, adult family home, or receive in-home services.
4. 
The combined rates charged may reflect an exemption or reduction for designated classes consistent with Article VIII, Section 7 of the State Constitution, and the amounts of any such exemption or reduction shall be a general expense of the utility, and designated as an availability cost, to be spread uniformly across the utility user classifications.
E. 
Periodic Service Fee Review. The city manager or designee will periodically perform financial review and analysis of the utility's revenues, expenses, indebtedness, fees and accounting, and recommend budgets, fee adjustments and financial policy. Based on such review, the city manager or designee shall recommend changes, amendments or additions for adoption by the city council. The total revenue generated by the rates and charges shall not exceed the total costs necessary to regulate, operate, and maintain an ambulance utility.
(Ord. 28-06; Ord. 2022-29 § 24; Ord. 2023-28 § 2)
The service fee shall be collected in accordance with the utility fee collection procedures as provided for in Chapter 3.30 RMC, Utility Billing and Collection.
(Ord. 28-06; Ord. 2023-28 § 2)
There is established and created a utility revenue fund to be known as the medical services fund to be held separate and apart from all other funds of the city. Any and all revenues received by the utility, including but not limited to all service fees and all other rates, fees and charges relating to the EMS program, shall be credited to the medical services fund, along with all appropriations from the general fund for the utility. All expenditures for the regulation, operation, and maintenance of the utility shall be paid out of the medical services fund. Money in the medical services fund shall not be transferred to the general fund or to any other fund of the city, except as payment for services rendered by the utility. Capital costs of the utility shall be paid only from a separately established account within the medical services fund and shall not be paid from the service fee.
(Ord. 28-06; Ord. 2023-28 § 2)
A. 
Each person who is transported by the city's EMS program shall be billed by the city at a rate of $1,146.00; provided, that the patient is a city resident or is employed at (and transported from) a place of business within the city and the patient:
1. 
Supplies the city with all requested information and documentation, including, but not limited to, insurance information and medical records relative to billing for the ambulance service; and
2. 
Assigns to the city the patient's right to receive payment from all applicable third-party payers.
B. 
A patient who is not a city resident and is not employed at and transported from a place of business within the city shall be subject to a 50 percent surcharge on such transport services.
C. 
A mileage rate of $24.00 per mile will also be charged, regardless of resident or nonresident status.
D. 
Reciprocity. The ambulance service shall be provided within the city's ambulance response and mutual aid areas at no additional cost to any resident of the cities of Pasco and Kennewick who resides:
1. 
In a household that pays a charge similar to the utility charge; and
2. 
In a city that provides medical and ambulance services within its ambulance response and mutual aid areas to Richland residents at no additional cost.
E. 
The city shall have reciprocity with each of these cities unless they cease to have an ambulance utility or withdraw from the reciprocal agreement.
(Ord. 28-06; Ord. 21-12 § 1; Ord. 31-20 § 1; Ord. 2022-27 § 1; Ord. 2023-28 § 2; Ord. 2025-01 § 1; Ord. 2025-21 § 1)
For the calendar year 2006, the general fund contribution shall be in the amount of $550,000. The city shall annually appropriate from the general fund and transfer to the medical services fund an amount not less than 70 percent of the annual general fund revenue expended to regulate, operate and maintain the utility during the fiscal year that included May 6, 2004, and as previously appropriated.
(Ord. 28-06; Ord. 2023-28 § 2)
Before any charge, rate or fee is added or modified, it shall be reviewed by the utility advisory committee. In connection with such review the committee shall solicit and consider public comment regarding the fee.
(Ord. 28-06; Ord. 2023-28 § 2)