MOSES LAKE - The Moses Lake Ambulance Fund stayed solvent coming out of 2011, although a positive cash balance declined in the first quarter of this year.

"Expenses were lower than what were budgeted (last year) and revenues were higher than were expected, which is good," City Manager Joe Gavinski told city council members last week, during a year-end ambulance fund report.

The city spent about 96 percent and received approximately 118 percent of what was estimated in the 2011 budget, he explained.

"We budgeted for no ending cash balance but ended up with about $218,000 at the end of the year," he said.

While the first quarter of 2012 chipped about $56,000 from that amount, Gavinski said the city may be able to make up that amount later in the year.

"Three months does not a year make. We'll get a better picture as the year goes on," he said.

The city council voted in 2010 to subsidize the ambulance fund by increasing the per-household utility fee to $8.25 and the annual general fund contribution to $252,800.

Councilman Brent Reese pointed out the increased contribution levels are what's keeping the ambulance fund afloat.

"We have been in the red for so long and now we're finally a little bit in the black," he said. "As far as the fee goes, that has a lot to do with it."

City officials said last fall they would likely take another look at contribution levels sometime in 2012.