Fixing the overtime issue with Caldwell County Emergency Management Services was as easy as hiring eight additional paramedics.
On Friday, Caldwell County commissioners agreed to hire the new personnel, at a cost of $656,000, and also added back $300,000 to the department’s overtime budget.
Last month, commissioners removed $300,000 over concerns about overtime expense.
The plan includes hiring eight additional full-time paramedics, raising pay as a hiring incentive and limiting how many employees can be on vacation at one time.
Key said they will also staff a third truck to serve the Hudson and Cajah’s Mountain area.
Currently, the department has 62 full time paramedics.
The plan is expected to save the county up to $448,600, according to Key.
Commissioners voted unanimously to restore the $300,000 previously cut from the EMS budget and grant the additional $656,000.
“(The EMS oversight committee) met three times, and we discovered several things, and obviously, based on June’s meeting, our main objective is all the overtime that we have,” Key said.
“We’ve got to keep trucks (ambulances) on the road, and we’ve got to manage that several different ways.”
Key said EMS has nine ambulances staffed during the day, and eight ambulances staffed at night. A staffed ambulance requires a minimum of two paramedics, or one paramedic and an emergency medical technician (EMT), Key said.
One thing that contributed to the overtime overage was that two EMS employees were on medical leave for multiple months last year, Key said. Other employees had to fill in to keep ambulances on the road.
Hiring eight new paramedics and adding a third ambulance to the Hudson and Cajah’s Mountain area will help reduce the call load for that part of the county, Key said.
Key said up to 30% of all calls come from Hudson and Cajah’s Mountain, making it EMS’s largest call volume area.
For recruitment and retention, full-time staff will receive an additional $2.35 per hour, Key said, and part-time staff will receive an additional $4.00 per hour.
Key said the EMS department also changed a policy so that only two EMS employees can be on vacation at one time, rather than three at one time.
“This committee is going to continue to meet and analyze what we’re changing, as well as continue to analyze our future, to make sure we’re doing the right thing, and being the best of the best that we can be,” Key said.
Commissioner Jeff Branch brought up the overtime overage at the June 9 board of commissioners meeting.
Branch led the charge to cut $300,000 out of the EMS department’s overtime line item in its 2025-2026 budget. The vote passed 5-1, with commissioner Donnie Potter voting against it.
The oversight committee was formed to address the issue. Board of commissioners chairman Church, commissioner Patrick Starnes, interim county manager Wayne Rash, deputy county manager Jimmy Harrison, medical director Garrett Snyder, Key and five EMS employees sit on the committee.