Derby takeover over Storm Ambulance mulled
DERBY — The Storm Ambulance Corps needs new ambulances, according to Tom Lenart, the chief of service for the corps.
“We’re running a 10 year old ambulance and an ambulance that’s been remounted which originally was 25 years old,” Lenart said.
The corps can’t afford new ones and budget woes have the city considering either absorbing the corps as a city-run department, or completely cutting financial ties with it.
Chief of Staff Walt Mayhew said the city is expecting a final decision in time for the new budget proposal next year.
The ambulance corps isn’t a city-run organization. It’s a hybrid 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization providing ambulance services to the city. According to a written statement from the city, Derby has given a stipend to the corps for years. But the corps, originally established as a volunteer organization, has since struggled to fill those roles.
As a result, the corps has hired professionals, the cost of which have eaten into its budget.
“They have moved from a complete volunteer organization to a hybrid of paid and volunteer members,” according to the release. “This has negatively affected their operating costs and the corps, according to their 990 filings (an IRS filing required of nonprofit agencies) has operated at a loss since 2018.”
Faced with these issues, the city has several options. It could fully absorb the corps and make it a city run department. The corps and city fire department already share resources and assist each other when needed. In that scenario, the city would own and purchase equipment and it would be subordinate to the fire chief.
Lenart favors that option. “What we’re looking to do is combine with the city to basically make the operation run smoother. So hopefully, that’s going to be the outcome,” he said.
The other option would be to completely cut financial ties with the corps and let the corps be responsible for equipment purchases. But, the corps would own the equipment.
While that option would allow the corps to exist as-is, its financial situation is less than ideal. Concerns over funding have been raised since at least the mid 2000s. But during that time, the corps was still able to weather expenses, despite utilizing an ambulance described as a cast off from its previous owner, Norwalk Hospital.
Budget issues have been discussed at previous Board of Apportionment and Taxation meetings earlier this year. According to minutes from an April 28 meeting, board member Jennifer Desroches said the ambulance corps requested $200,000 for its budget, double what it received last year. The corps ended up getting receiving $125,000 this year.
A May 12 Board of Alderman meeting revealed that a new ambulance would have cost $285,000, about $30,000 more than previously estimated.
Lenart said waiting would likely mean an even higher price tag.
“We’ve seen the prices of vehicles skyrocket in the last year. And there’s a delivery time, we’re talking probably 18 months before it could be delivered if it was ordered today,” Lenart said.
The two competing proposals would be compared to the cost of using other EMS service providers in the area over the next five years. Storm Ambulance Corps Chief Javonte Ramos, speaking at an April 19 meeting, cautioned against using an outside provider.
“You’d be waiting for an outside agency to come into the city at their discretion because they could have the same incidents going on. And at that point, it’s just a waiting game,” Ramos said.