Fee Studies & Cost Allocation Plans

We provide sage analysis in the form of an Overhead Cost Allocation Plan, which distributes the general governmental and support services costs of a city, county or special district to the direct services and activities provided to the public. We prepare plans for local agencies that comply with federal regulations, known as Title 2 CFR Part 200 (formerly known as OMB A-87), for purposes of audit and/or reimbursement. In addition, these plans are used for optimal budgeting purposes and intended for use for many forms of cost recovery efforts.

Development Impact Fees (DIF) are a one-time fee imposed to generate funds for the new or expanded infrastructure required because of development, whether commercial or residential. They are not to be used for ongoing operations and maintenance needs. We help local governments to identify the areas where such fees are needed, discuss the policy aims, and develop the rigorous study to justify such fees.

A Fee Study identifies the full costs of service eligible for recovery from fees and translates those costs into a workable fee structure for various programs and/or services. The full costs of service are derived for each service or activity and, in most cases, is first expressed as a fully burdened hourly rate applicable to the time necessary to perform the service or activity. It is important to have a strong overall understanding of an agency’s cost structure before designing these fees, and then to have a dialogue about cost recovery policies for them. We guide public agencies through these processes with upfront discussions, in-depth analysis and recommendations.

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) cost recovery programs are designed to offset the expenses incurred in delivering emergency medical services.

Ground Emergency Medical Transportation services (GEMT) reimbursement is designed to provide supplemental payments to qualifying EMS providers for the cost of providing ground emergency medical transportation to Medicaid beneficiaries. GEMT comes in a variety of forms, depending on the pertinent State regulations (State Plan Amendment, or “SPA”) and changing Federal guidelines. Another form of GEMT, known as Supplemental Emergency Medical Transportation (SEMT), considers ground, air, and water ambulance support for cost recovery.

Our team has worked for agencies of all sizes in many states across the country, helping to recover millions of dollars in direct costs and appropriate overhead. We have more than a decade of experience, since the inception of many of these programs, working with ambulance services organizations on cost report submissions. Let us help guide you, crunch the appropriate numbers, and provide the needed documentation to submit for cost recovery.