Juice job?

Up till last month, a Henderson ordinance required anyone seeking an ambulance license to have in hand an accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services.

That rule locked out any startup services from competing with the current de facto, valley-wide monopoly, explains City Councilman Steve Kirk.

John Wilson, general manager of that monopoly private service, agrees that the old law blocked competition, noting that over the past decade two other ambulance firms, one local and one from California, were denied business licenses by Henderson because they lacked that accreditation.

So, singing the praises of open competition, Henderson City Council members on Tuesday approved a business license that will allow three city employees to launch a new private ambulance service, transporting patients for up to 30 months while they work to obtain the required accreditation.

Henderson Fire Department employees Rob Richardson, Brian Rogers and Dr. Richard Henderson hope to launch their new transport service within the next three to four months.

But before changing the rules of the game, protests Mr. Wilson, city officials should have given more public notice and completed a study to assess what the new change might do to existing service providers.

Mr. Wilson is wrong about the need for the city to concern itself with what competition would do to existing providers. The public benefits from open competition precisely because it allows the best entrepreneurs to drive out those who can’t compete on price and service. Real competition can’t begin until there’s “excess capacity.”

But this deal certainly does look like three city employees were “juiced in” before any prospective competitors could get wind of the new rules, adopted on Jan. 19. If open competition is so good, why wasn’t there a prominent public advertisement of the change, requesting any interested parties to come forward with proposals to be licensed in Henderson?

Nor is there any justification for limiting competition to non-emergency transfers, for that matter. Throw open the emergency service, as well, and let the fire department submit a competitive bid, along with everyone else.