Jamestown Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon presents to City Council Public Safety Committee (March 4, 2024)
The City of Jamestown and Busti Fire Department are looking at a shared services agreement for EMS calls.
Deputy Fire Chief Matt Coon presented to the Public Safety Committee on the agreement, saying that Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation in April 2022 that allowed volunteer fire departments and fire districts to bill for EMS transportation services, “Previously to that, that was something the Firefighters Association of the State of New York, FASNY, had lobbied for for 40 years. I never thought they’d get it. They did end up getting a trial run until 2026. The New York State Department of Public Health requires us, if we’re to use EMS mutual aid as we’ve done in the past, we’ve traditionally relied on a Fire Mutual Aid plan to do that. But that doesn’t meet the requirements set forth in the law.”
Coon said under the shared revenue agreement, Busti will be able to bill for the transports, “They can only really bill for the operating territory that they’re in unless the service certificate states. It’s no difference for us even as a career organization. We only bill within our service territory within the city of Jamestown. So, having this shared services agreement will also cover us in the event that we go out to Busti’s Fire District to cover calls for them.”
Coon said this will help Busti to recover costs and there would not be a cost to the City of Jamestown. He said in the event that Busti doesn’t have the manpower to respond to an EMS call, Jamestown will respond with the staff needed. He said there is a 60-40 revenue split on those types of calls.
Coon said ALSTAR will be providing the billing for Busti.
He said his goal is to use this agreement as a template for billing, “Falconer is interested in doing a billing arrangement as well. We use them quite a bit. But my goal would be to get all five surrounding districts to be a party to an agreement similar to this that will allow that mutual response both in and out .. and including Lakewood because we do use Lakewood on occasion.”
Coon said he’s expecting the state’s legislation, which currently is set to sunset in 2026, will be made permanent.
He added the delivery of the city’s second ambulance is expected in April with hopes it’ll be ready for use by Memorial Day. He said this will help alleviate the need for mutual aid to respond to calls in the city.
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