Millbrook council approves first ambulance fee update since 2013

Millbrook residents who need an ambulance will now face higher transport charges after the City Council unanimously approved the first fee update in 13 years. The new schedule under Ordinance 26-04 sets basic life support at $550, advanced life support at $700, advanced life support level 2 at $850, and mileage at $15 per mile.

The council adopted the change at its June 23 meeting, updating the city’s emergency services code for the first time since 2013. City officials said the old fee schedule no longer matched the cost of running emergency medical transport in 2026, when fuel, staffing, equipment and medical-service expenses have all climbed.

Fire Chief Larry Brown said Millbrook raised the rates to match the City of Prattville while still staying below many private ambulance providers. Millbrook officials said the higher charges are meant to offset rising operating costs and improve recovery through insurance reimbursements, a signal that the practical impact of the new schedule will depend heavily on how insurers process ambulance claims and how much is left for patients to cover.

The Millbrook Fire Department says it provides fire and emergency medical services throughout the city and operates as a combination department with paid and volunteer firefighters and paramedics. It also runs three advanced life support ambulances, making ambulance billing a direct part of how the city funds a core public-safety service.

The June 23 council agenda listed Ordinance 26-04 as “Amending the Millbrook Code of Ordinances Emergency Services,” underscoring that the fee change was handled as a formal policy update rather than a one-time adjustment. The long stretch since the last increase left the city using ambulance charges that had not kept pace with the realities of providing emergency transport more than a decade later.

Millbrook’s move also fits a broader River Region pattern. Prattville’s fire department held an Ambulance Fee Committee Meeting on Dec. 8, 2025, to address ambulance fees and collections, showing that local governments across the area are treating ambulance billing as an active budget issue rather than a routine clerical charge. Federal Medicare reimbursement materials for 2026 also include a 2.0% inflation adjustment over 2025, another sign that ambulance pricing continues to move while older municipal schedules do not.