NATCHEZ — Natchez city employees may be receiving an additional benefit that could give them a little peace of mind and potentially save them thousands of dollars.

Mayor Butch Brown said he has included in his budget that he will present to the aldermen for approval an Air Evac Lifeteam membership benefit for city employees.

The membership would cost the city $45 per employee and cover the employee and their family members should they need to be airlifted for medical treatment.

Rhonda Stevens, Natchez Air Evac Lifeteam membership sales manager, pitched the benefit to the board of aldermen at its Aug. 14 meeting.

Stevens said Friday the way membership works, Stevens said, is if a member is injured and meets criteria to be airlifted, the flight is paid for by whatever the member’s major medical insurance covers. The member is not responsible for the remainder of the cost of the flight.

For example, Stevens said, a member’s flight could total $20,000, and the insurance cover $7,000.

“We would throw the rest of that bill in the trash,” Stevens said.

Additionally, Air Evac members who are not insured are not billed for flights. Membership averages approximately $50-$60 per year, and the city would get a $45 flat rate for employees, Stevens said.

That may sound too good to be true, but Stevens said she assures it is not.

“We have about one million members, so we do make money,” Stevens said. “And we fly more non-members than members.”

Non-members are responsible for flight cost that their insurance does not cover.

Brown said he believes adding membership for city employees would be money well-spent.

“I think it is a very affordable benefit that could save someone a lot of money,” Brown said. “The money we’ll spend each fiscal year will be about half the cost of a flight.”

The membership for the 243 city employees would cost the city approximately $10,935 each fiscal year.