EMS on solid financial footing

By FREDA R. SAVANA
The Intelligencer

Seven months into its first year as an independent ambulance squad, Chalfont Emergency Medical Services appears to be holding its own, say most local officials.

Late last year, Bucks County court settled a contentious dispute between the Chalfont Fire Co. and its ambulance service, setting forth a detailed plan for the emergency services group to establish itself outside the auspices of the fire department.

Although some doubted the EMS could survive on its own, questioning its financial viability, most agree it has survived the first half of the year in pretty good shape.

“I think they're doing great,” said Jack Bodden, a New Britain Township supervisor who helped broker the separation.

He said he sees a “healing of the wounds” that for months polarized the fire company and the EMS.

Jim Clements, president of the fire company and a vocal opponent of the ambulance squad taking off on its own, said he now supports the newly independent organization.

“As far as the fire company goes, it's fine. Both organizations are getting along with each other,” said Clements.

That could be due, in part, to the fact that there are still close ties between the two services.

Operations at the new EMS, which pays $2,000 a month plus utilities in a three-year lease deal with the fire company, are run by Russ Leets, who is also a member of the fire company.

The squad has 30 members; six of them also belong to the fire company. Fourteen are career staff, with 11 of them full time and three who work part time as needed. Eight of those are paramedics and the rest are emergency medical technicians. There are 16 volunteers, all of them EMTS, said Leets.

As part of the court-structured plan, the fire company was required to transfer $300,000 to the ambulance service, money that had been earmarked for it.

Combining those funds with $110,000 in municipal taxes, $80,000 in subscriptions and donations, the EMS had $515,000 in revenue as it launched in January. Expenses are budgeted at $491,880.

Despite the surplus of $23,000, Bob Bender, secretary of the seven-member board that provides oversight to the EMS, said the organization will face a shortfall in the coming years when it depletes a rental subsidy from the fire company.

Under terms of the split, the fire company has to provide $35,000 to the ambulance squad to supplement its rent for three years.

By the end of 2009, the EMS will face a $12,000 hole in its budget, according to minutes from an ambulance service meeting.

It will also have to find a new home.

The fire company intends to build a new facility by then and it will not include space for the ambulance service, said Clements.

“I think that's a mutual feeling,” he said. “They want to be on their own.”

Planning, or the lack of it, for that eventuality troubles Mitch Meyerson, vice president of Chalfont Borough Council. He criticized the EMS board for failing to present municipalities with a budget in a timely manner and for not reserving funds for a new building.

Meyerson said he was trying to be proactive and help the squad avoid financial pitfalls like those that forced the closing of neighboring squads.

“We don't want to be like Dublin and Perkasie,” he said.

Bender defended the spending plan, saying it tried to address all the pressing needs of a new business. The first capital expense had to go to truck repairs, he said. Bender is also New Britain Township's acting manager. He was appointed to the EMS board before taking the township position and said he sees no conflict because both bodies serve the public.

According to Bodden, New Britain Township is developing a lease with the EMS that would offer it property next to the township building on Park Avenue for a $1 a year.

“There's something in the works,” was all the supervisor would say.

Sensitive to both public and private scrutiny, Bender said the EMS is attempting to be “as transparent as possible” with its finances.

Efforts are under way to post the service's financial matters on line, available to anyone at any time, said the secretary. Additionally, the EMS is having its books independently audited and a second audit, that will analyze the court's division plan, is also being done.

All of the auditing and the new online information is expected to be available sometime in August, said Bender.

Chalfont EMS will respond to some 1,200 to 1,300 calls this year, a little more than last year, according to Leets. He attributed the increase to the folding of the Dublin and Perkasie squads.

Looking ahead, Bodden said he sees positive things for both the fire company and the EMS.

“I believe in the future they will be thought of in tandem. I think this will be a blueprint for ambulance services.”

Freda R. Savana can be reached at (215) 345-3061 or fsavana@phillyBurbs.com.