Combining Kansas City ambulance service with the Fire Department is a possibility that should be considered by all parties involved, including the City Council, as a way for the city government to pare the looming city budget deficit, according to Troy Schulte, City Budget Director.
“That arrangement is standard in most cities our size or larger,” Schulte said in an interview. “Ambulance service is a component of the fire department in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis and most other large cities, with a few exceptions such as Oklahoma City and Fort Worth, TX.
“I think we have to continue looking at all our options as to how we can provide services in the most effective and economical ways possible,” Schulte continued. “I think when the fire union (Fire Fighters Local 42) recommends something it ought to be looked at.”
Schulte was asked for his opinion following a financial forum Monday, Dec. 22, sponsored by Mayor Mark Funkhouser at which a report by the PFM Group, a Philadelphia and Des Moines, IA, consulting firm, was the centerpiece. The book-size set of recommendations by PFM was a proposed five-year plan.
The forum was held at the National World War I Museum. The PFM recommendations had been released Dec. 17.
The current MAST ambulance service, which is a metropolitan agency largely funded by Kansas City, was barely mentioned in the PFM report, and the arrangement was not questioned at all. Kansas City, Kansas, and some other area communities have their own ambulance services.
Fire Fighters Local 42 represents most personnel at both the Kansas City Fire Department and MAST. Louie Wright, Local 42 president, could not immediately be reached for comment, but, as Budget Director Schulte stated, supports consolidation of fire and ambulance services. The Fire Department already serves as “first responder” at accidents and health emergencies.
Fire Chief Smokey Dyer told KCTribune: “What I have told the Mayor, the City Manager and Troy Schulte is that in these hard economic times and the financial situation the city finds itself in that we as a department are willing to examine any method to maintain or improve the effectiveness of every service while improving the city’s finances.
“From our standpoint, everything is on the table and we will participate in every way possible to maintain our cost effectiveness,.” Dyer added.
As far as the consultant’s silence on the fire/ambulance issue is concerned, Dyer said: “I have no comment on that. That’s the purview of the City Manager, the Mayor and the Council and we’ll leave that decision up to them.”
Randall Bauer, a project director for the PFM Group recommendations, was asked why the consultant’s report gives scant attention to ambulance service, even though the PFM report notes that public safety—police, fire and ambulance services—accounts for nearly half of the city budget.
“Regionalism is a big issue in Kansas City,” Bauer said. “A major theme of the report is regionalism and you already have that with MAST. To go back to non-regional operations would be moving away from that model and away from achieving economies of scale. From our perspective that is important.”
KCTribune recently received an alert from a prominent Kansas City businessman that the PFM report was edited at some point to water down discussion of possible savings from combining fire and ambulance services.
Asked whether the PFM report had been edited, Bauer said, “It’s absolutely false that the report was changed.”
Asked about possible savings from merger of fire and ambulance services, Bauer said: “People will have to look at the report and draw their own conclusions.”
The report’s treatment of the fire/ambulance issue is very brief and hard to find. It is included in the chapter entitled “Neighborhood Livability and Healthy Community,” not in the “Public Safety” chapter. There are 12 chapters in the report plus three appendices.
South Kansas City Councilman John Sharp, a former MARC executive director, attended the financial forum along with several other members of the City Council. Asked about possible merger of ambulance service with the Fire Department, Sharp said MAST provides effective and economical service and is not a drain on the city budget.
Councilwoman Deb Hermann, chair of the City Council Finance and Audit Committee, was among approximately 100 persons who attended the financial forum but she could not be reached before KCTribune’s deadline. Councilwoman Beth Gottstein participated in a group discussion of Public Safety issues at the financial forum, but also could not be reached for comment.
Asked after the forum if he had a comment on PFM’s silence on the fire/ambulance issue, Mayor Funkhouser said: “None that I want to discuss now, because I don’t want to pre-empt a broader community discussion. And my views might change as a result of that broader community discussion.”
Schulte said advantages of Fire Department/ambulance consolidation include the fact that the Fire Department maintains about 35 stations throughout the city providing rapid response time to accidents or medical emergencies. Additionally, as it stands now, the Fire Department and MAST have overlapping administrative and personnel costs. Another factor, Schulte said, is that while house and other fires are decreasing, demand for ambulance service is increasing.
Schulte said that MAST has significant liability insurance expenses, while the city government would not because the city enjoys “sovereign immunity.”
Schulte said it also appeared that the PFM report was largely based on the 2004 published report of another consultant, Fitch, which had been commissioned by the Health Department. The PFM report was commissioned by the Mayor and City Council.
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