By Brian Hubert
Daily Freeman
KINGSTON, N.Y. — The Kingston Fire Department’s ambulance service is on track to take in more than $1 million in ambulance insurance payments this year, more than five times the reimbursements the city received in 2024.
City Comptroller John Tuey told the Common Council’s Finance and Audit Committee during his budget update Wednesday, April 9, that through the first quarter of the year, the service has taken in $260,000 in insurance payments since the start of the year. He added that he expects the city to bring in $1.1 million by the end of the year.
“We’re relatively on target with ambulance revenue,” Tuey said.
Mayor Steve Noble estimated in April 2024 that ambulance insurance payments could bring in $1.1 million for the city. The city has taken in a total of $460,000 in insurance payments for the ambulance service since billing began last year.
Tuey said he credits the growing billing revenues to improved processes that are ensuring paperwork is fully completed properly. He said regular pay in the ambulance division is tracking well under budget so far, equaling 17.8% of the budget through a quarter of the year.
He added, however, that there is more budget pressure in overtime, which is at 96% of the amount budgeted for the period. Tuey said he expects that pressure to be relieved as new hires complete training and become available for calls.
“We expect overtime to go down,” he added.
Tuey warned lawmakers a budget transfer may be required to cover the overtime, but also said that, right now, he expects most of it to be covered by regular pay.
Turning to the regular budget, Tuey said the city has spent just under 24% of the budget through the first quarter of the year. “We are tracking pretty well compared to budget,” he said. “We only have $200,000 in contingency, so we’ll have to keep a close eye on that.”
Sales tax revenue is up just over 2% through February and appears to be tracking back to historical yearly growth rates of 2 to 4% after several years of rapid growth, according to Tuey.
“It’s positive news,” he said. “It’s not a big influx, but it’s positive.”
Tuey also said the city has had to make a “good dip” into the city’s fund balance and that could “put strain on next year’s budget.” The percentage of the fund balance is now within the middle of the policy as set by the city, he added.
© 2025 Daily Freeman, Kingston, N.Y..
Visit www.dailyfreeman.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
