By HIROKO SATO
Lowell Sun (Massachusetts)
CHELMSFORD, Mass. — Town Manager Bernie Lynch is recommending against the firefighters’ proposal to start an in-house ambulance service, saying the town could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars by doing so.
Lynch handed a 31-page report to the selectmen this week in response to the Fire Department Local 1839’s proposal to take over the basic life-support transportation service from a contractor. Trinity Ambulance currently provides the service to the town for $1 a year.
The local firefighters’ union pitched the idea — which it had kicked around for a while — last fall as a way to help bring in more revenue as the town faced a major budget shortfall. The firefighters said an in-house system would help provide more efficient and seamless service to patients while raising about $300,000 in net revenue.
But Lynch said in his report that the net gain could be just $4,700 in the best-case scenario. In the worst-case scenario, the town could lose $899,000, he noted.
“Given the results of the attached analysis, it is clear that a municipal fire-based ambulance operation would not be advantageous at this time,” Lynch wrote, adding that a professional study would be necessary to determine if the department has enough staff members to provide the service.
The study could cost $30,000 to $50,000, Lynch said.
“Assuming that excess capacity does in fact exist as is suggested in the union proposal, should the excess be eliminated for budgetary savings, utilized for municipal ambulance operations or for some other public good or public safety benefit?” Lynch wrote.
Selectman Tom Newcomb said he recommended a study be done on the in-house ambulance a year ago.
“I felt that we should bring in an outside consultant to really look at the station placements, manning of the equipment and, as part of that, ambulance proposal,” Newcomb said. Reviewing all these issues as a package makes more sense, he added.
Selectman Philip Eliopoulos also said a study would be worth the money if it’s not just about ambulance but about how the town provides emergency services, including possible consolidations of fire houses.
Under the firefighters’ union’s proposal, the town would have two ambulances, and it would require one firefighter per shift to man one of them with the other vehicle serving as a backup. Including any additional personnel to provide administrative duties, the department would need five new employees.
The union projects the total expenditure to be $334,000 to $356,000 and the gross revenue to be between $1 million to $1.1 million.
“Calculated as a new enterprise, it would cost more than $1.5 million to operate two 24-hour BLS (basic life support) ambulances with Fire Department personnel,” Lynch said.
“My question all along was how you can staff an ambulance full time with only five more employees,” said Newcomb, who believes at least eight people are needed to man two vehicles to avoid impacting the staffing level for fire suppressions.
John Kivlan of the firefighters’ union said he was not surprised by Lynch’s report because the town manager always has been opposed to the in-house ambulance proposal. Kivlan declined to comment on the details of the report because he had not read through it yet. But he said he hopes selectmen will be open-minded and have the issue reviewed by a committee or an independent consultant.
Lynch’s report is available online at http://chelmsfordma.virtualtownhall.net/Home/S0095200A-00952033.