Re-establishing ambulance service by Lockport Fire Department will not affect the projected 2023 city property tax rate if the move is approved by the Common Council, Mayor Michelle Roman said Friday.
The tentative 2023 city budget does not show the expenses of operating an ambulance service in appropriations for LFD. Roman said, however, the expenses would be eclipsed by revenues from insurance companies for the service, making the final cost to the taxpayer approximately zero.
According Roman, as well as the findings of an ad-hoc ambulance committee, $1.28 million will be taken in as revenue through providing ambulance service. Expenditures would include $200,000 for projected overtime and another $486,000 in contingency from budgetary excess, in the case of revenue not being quite to par with what’s been predicted.
Roman said the revenue was based on a percentage of what Medicare and Medicaid pays for ambulance service with consideration to the “record calls” currently being reported.
“It’s about 70% to 80% of the rate,” Roman said.
Roman also said that another ambulance could be put on the road to complement the two ambulances the department already has, one of which was donated and the other bought for $5,000.
“As we get revenue, I think we can get a third (ambulance) with the call volume we have,” she said.
Roman said that the professional ambulance businesses and volunteer fire companies are getting overworked servicing the city.
“We need to get this done,” she said. “We are putting pressure on an already stretched system.”
While the Common Council has ordered a private audit be completed by Freed Maxick CPAs, a Buffalo-based accounting firm, 3rd Ward Alderman Mark Devine said he believes that the numbers will be very close to what Roman and other ad-hoc ambulance committee members have documented.
And to be frank, he said, it doesn’t even matter.
“I don’t care if it’d lose $1.3 million,” Devine said. “That’s not the point. … It’s about saving lives.”
Devine said that the reason the ambulance service is not included in the mayor’s proposed budget is that it’s still “in the air” as to whether the council will accept it. However, he also said that every member of the board is aware that it is an issue that needs to be “addressed.”
Common Council President Paul Beakman said he was one of those members, explaining that as police officer, he’s watched people dying while waiting for ambulances.
“I’ll never forget it,” Beakman said.
In the end, he noted that the 12 firefighters hired – because the city’s former administration had committed wrongful actions by firing a dozen in 2014 – they could sit in the firehouse or be out in ambulances saving lives.
“I hope this council does the right thing, I really do,” he said.
Devine, a former firefighter himself, said despite his own feelings about the need for city owned and operated ambulances, he was asking questions and the answers all seemed to point at restoring this service.
“If you listen to Mr. Clark for Twin City or from Mike Gugliuzza from Mercy and listen to the Chief of South Lockport Fire Company, it’s not sustainable for those companies to do ambulance service in Lockport,” Devine said.
However, Devine also noted that the current council will be going through its first budget season as officials. Every council Devine has served on, he said, has taken that process very seriously, including this one.
He also noted his support for a third-party audit brought to the table by Alderwoman-at-large Gina Pasceri, because she was doing her homework.
“I’m proud to serve with this council,” Devine said.
Second Ward Alderman Luke Kantor said that while nothing could be done without Freed Maxick’s report, he’s aware of the situation and is looking for the best solution for a problem that wasn’t just his ward’s.
“It’s bigger than Lockport,” Kantor said. “As a nation we need to take a look at EMS (Emergency Medical Services) providers.”
Alderwomen Kristin Barnard, Kitty Fogle and Gina Pasceri could not be reached for comment.
