AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) — Central EMS is holding a hiring fair to staff up as it prepares to take over emergency ambulance service in Augusta.

“We’ve got over 40 people currently hired, we’re looking to hire over one hundred, we’re bringing our operations here we’re not trying to run it from the Atlanta area,” said Jonathan Walker, Training Director for Central EMS.

The company telling the Augusta EMS subcommittee that the job market is tight right now for EMT’s and paramedics, so staffing will be a big part of Central EMS costs as operations begin in Augusta.

“Nearly 70 percent of the costs of running an ambulance service, so how much those medics are paid, really makes a difference we want the medics to be paid a good living wage,” said Central EMS President Gary Coker.

What Augusta will be paying to Central EMS is still not known, the only figure on the table is how much profit the company wants.

“We have to make a ten percent for our investment, that’s it, that’s what I’m looking for,” said Bryan Gibson, CEO of Central EMS parent company Priority Ambulance. 

Central EMS is putting its staff together, even though the city and the company still don’t have a contract or have agreed to an annual subsidy cost.

“They’re coming in without a subsidy, they’re saying they are going to stay, but at the end of the day, if we can’t come to an agreement on what that dollar figure looks like, are they really going to stay? Because they are not going to make a ten percent profit,” said Commissioner Sean Frantom.

Central EMS is preparing to go to work in Augusta, but the company and the city have a lot of work to do to finalize a contract subsidy.