Million deficit in the ambulance service of the Offenbach district

• fromAnnette Schlegl

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  shut down

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Too low rescue service fees and a legal dispute with the service provider Red Cross have ruined the 2019 results of the district’s rescue service.

The ambulance service of the Offenbach district brought in more than a million euros lousy in 2019. The opposition parties in the district council met with a lot of criticism in the latest meeting. There was talk of over-indebtedness, of a deficient structure and of a reform that was delayed over years. District Administrator Oliver Quilling (CDU) said that in 2019 the situation at the rescue service was special.

The too low rescue service fee made up a large part of the deficit of 1.042 million euros two years ago, said the district administrator. Although there was a new fee statute for rescue services, ambulance transport and control center, the district council was only able to pass this at the beginning of 2020 because the recalculation took months. “It was clear that we would still run into a deficit in 2019,” said Quilling.

In addition, the district was in litigation with the Red Cross. In his opinion, according to the old rescue service statutes of the district, it was illegal to charge fees for so-called wrong trips. These arise when the ambulance moves out in vain – for example because the patient is suddenly fine or has since passed away. “Because of these differences, there was no budget adjustment,” said Quilling. He hoped that we could still come to an understanding so that the deficit would be reduced.

Marlies Schefer (Greens) spoke of a “shocking result” given the 1.04 million euros loss. The auditor pointed out irregularities in his report. The important internal and external budget adjustments had not been accounted for during the year or in the annual financial statements. Quilling described Schefer’s portrayal as “not entirely fair”. The auditor finally gave the group an “unqualified audit opinion” in the annual financial statements. He had advised, however, to increase the share capital of the rescue service, which was intended as security, from 100,000 to one million euros. In addition, the works commission – quasi the company’s supervisory board – is to be expanded to include additional district council members.

In the 2021 economic plan, which the district council adopted by a majority, the ambulance service’s budget is set 40 percent higher. The district needs more staff and more vehicles because it opened a second rescue station in Neu-Isenburg on January 1st. “It was critical to comply with the statutory deadline during rush hour”, justified the district administrator.

The district council majority decided to carry over the loss in 2019 to the following year and granted discharge to the management and commission.

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