Ansonia Rescue and Medical Services responded to more than 3,000 ambulance calls last year, in the process bringing in more than $725,000 to the city’s coffers.
But officials with the organization warned Aldermen that a budget proposal they’re considering is unrealistic because it would cut staffing while assuming the service will be able to bring in even more money.
“If you cut on the expense side in wages, we will miss calls, which will cause a decrease in the revenue side,” Jared Heon, chief of Ansonia Rescue and Medical Services, said.
“There was a drastic cut by the mayor — quite frankly, drastic, to our budget — and the revenue side was increased,” Heon went on. “That’s false budgeting.”
Heon’s comments came during a three-and-a-half-hour budget workshop of the Board of Aldermen’s finance committee March 23. About a dozen people from ARMS’ attended the meeting.
The Aldermen are trying to create a budget for the next fiscal year that will deliver adequate funding to city departments while not raising property taxes. But a number of difficult realities have been setting in as members of the finance committee have been meeting with city officials to see where they can save money.
For one, next year’s budget is shaping up to be especially tough because of uncertainty over how much money in state aid the city will receive.
At the same time, the city’s grand list — the properties on which it can levy property taxes for revenue — isn’t growing fast enough to make up for a shortfall in state aid.
Meanwhile, the city plans to borrow more than $4 million from its fund balance to stabilize the mill rate. It would be the fourth straight year the city has borrowed from its savings, a strategy that can’t go on forever.
ARMS Budget
Last month Mayor David Cassetti presented a “worst case scenario” budget proposing drastic cuts to departments such as the library and recreation.
The mayor’s budget envisioned ARMS spending for 2017 – 2018 at $787,950, which would be a decrease of $39,800, or 4.81 percent, from this year.
Like most departments, ARMS spends most of its money on employee wages — $630,000 in this year’s budget.
The department initially asked for $861,927 in wages for 2017 – 2018.
Cassetti’s “worst case scenario” budget set the number at $545,000 — more than $300,000 lower. The city’s tax board added back $40,000 in the budget the Aldermen are currently considering.
Heon told Aldermen that the number should be $634,879 at a bare minimum.
He said it can already be a struggle finding enough part-time and volunteer manpower to cover shifts because people often leave for more lucrative full-time jobs in other ambulance services.
“We cannot really continue doing things the way that we are,” Heon said. “We are constantly trying to hire, constantly trying to fill. We’re constantly losing people, and it’s very very difficult.”
Consultant Or Competition?
At that point, the finance committee chairman, First Ward Alderman Charles Stowe, said he had invited an EMS consultant to speak with the committee Wednesday “and maybe give you some ideas or tell us how good you’re doing or however it comes out.”
Ryan Hunt, ARMS’ assistant chief, said that the consultant invited by Stowe is affiliated with an EMS staffing company, which contracts with municipalities to provide paramedic services.
He questioned whether the consultant’s advice would be objective.
“How appropriate is it to have someone who’s affiliated with a staffing agency come in and give you advice on how we’re running a city department? That is a direct conflict of interest,” Hunt said. “That is not an unbiased individual coming in and looking at our department, that is someone who has a vested interest in (an) outcome.”
“We don’t feel that this gentleman is appropriate to be evaluating our service,” Heon said.
Stowe said he just wanted to “ask a few questions.”
For example, he said, “You guys take a lot of calls. Should you take as many calls out of the area? You go to Derby, right?”
Heon said ARMS takes “mutual aid” calls to Derby because it brings in revenue without making new hires.
“We used our current staff to cover that,” he said.
“You shouldn’t be afraid of information,” Stowe said.
“I’m not afraid of information when we get told upfront,” Heon replied, saying the finance committee had gone “behind the department’s back” because it didn’t address its concerns to the city commission overseeing ARMS.
Stowe said he was just looking for ideas to save money.
“It’s not about how you guys work or what you’re giving to the city,” he said.
Later Phil Tripp, the president of the Board of Aldermen, who sat in on the budget workshop, said Aldermen are just trying to save money wherever they can in order not to raise taxes.
“There will be no tax increase,” Tripp said. “That is what’s driving this train, ladies and gentlemen.”
Stowe said Aldermen needed to cut about $322,000 from the tax board’s budget proposal to keep the property tax rate unchanged from last year.
On top of that, he said the Board of Education is asking for $1,361,080 more than the tax board voted to allocate to them in order to prevent layoffs.
“I’m not saying anyone’s getting anything or not getting anything,” Stowe said. “I just want everyone to be aware of what we’re dealing with.”
Ultimately, the Aldermen decided to ask the consultant to first meet with the ARMS Commission and then report back to the Aldermen.
During the discussion Heon said the department felt singled out because ARMS is subjected to more oversight than others already.
He noted the department had a comprehensive independent review completed in 2008. He said the Aldermen should give the same scrutiny to all city spending.
“Now we’re having another overview of our department,” Heon said. “What other department’s going to bring an expert in to find out what they do? Does the Board of Ed go line by line with you to tell you what your expenses are, what you paid, and what vendors you use and everything?”
“They will be,” Randolph Carroll, a First Ward Alderman, said.
The finance committee’s next budget workshop is scheduled for Thursday (March 30) at 6 p.m.
