Wendel Eyes Balanced Fly Car Program Budget
County Executive PJ Wendel knows full well how valuable the county’s fly car EMS response program is.
In the span of five minutes this week, fly cars were sent to respond to help someone having a stroke while another was sent to respond to a car accident in which a vehicle hit a tree. In both cases, volunteer firefighters weren’t available.
The need for such responses during daytime hours when many volunteer firefighters are working and unavailable for emergency response is one reason the fly car – and its budget – have taken on such importance in Chautauqua County. It’s also a reason the program’s spending is up and projected revenue is down in the budget Wendel proposed last week.
“They’re needed,” Wendel told The Post-Journal and OBSERVER this week. “It’s not like they’re not. It’s challenging. It’s a service we need to provide.”
‘A BETTER GRASP’
County lawmakers have questioned the fly car’s budget in recent years – including the August meeting of the legislature’s Audit and Control Committee meeting. County Budget Director Jennifer Swanson told legislators the fly-car program was running at a $650,000 deficit due to expense overruns, with legislators approving an additional $425,000 during September’s legislature voting session from the county’s unassigned fund balance to the EMS Fly Car and Ambulance Service program.
In the summer of 2017, Chautauqua County started its first fly car system, which are non-transporting emergency medical service vehicles that respond to and provide emergency medical services without the ability to transport patients. It has helped supplement volunteer fire departments who don’t have enough Emergency Medical Technicians to respond to each call.
After Swanson gave the report, Legislator Dan Pavlock, R-Ellington, expressed concerns, saying that he doesn’t think there’s been a year the fly car program has stayed in its budget. Originally county officials were told the program would fund itself through medical billing, but that hasn’t been the case. Legislature Chairman Pierre Chagnon, R-Ellery, agreed with Pavlock and said he is working on addressing this issue for the next budget.
The budget does, indeed, address the fly car’s ongoing budget issues.
County lawmakers are reviewing the spending plan. It calls for fly car spending to increase $628,143 to a total of $3,508,038. At the same time, Wendel is projecting revenues to decrease from the $1,759,403 included in the 2024 budget to $1,400,081 in the 2025 budget proposal. In all, the local share cost will be budgeted for a $987,465 increase.
“There’s no money in EMS calls,” Wendel said. “If there was more people would be doing it. … We don’t want to run deficits like we’ve seen. We’re trying to get costs under control.”
PROGRAM CHANGES
Wendel said boosting spending and decreasing projected revenues isn’t the end of the county’s work to close the years-long gaps in the fly car program’s budget. He said the county has pivoted, including creating a Transportation Division that he said has paid dividends so far working with Allegheny Health Network-Westfield and potentially expanding to Brooks-TLC in the north county. Expanding that service can add revenues.
At the same time the county is looking at potentially changing how it handles billing for the fly car program. Currently the county contracts with a third party company, but it’s possible the county could bring billing in-house and possibly bring additional revenue into the program. ‘
Wendel also said the state can help by taking a couple of long-discussed actions.
In 2022, Assemblyman Steve Otis, D-Port Chester, and Sen. Shelley Mayer, D-Port Chester, introduced legislation that would require EMS coverage, expand the benefits available to EMS personnel and set standards for EMS training. A version of that bill, co-sponsored by state Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, was passed by the state Senate during its 2024 session but did not make it through the state Assembly before the end of this year’s session.
Another attempt at making EMS a mandated service as well as additional state help discussed by Gov. Kathy Hochul could lessen the burden on county taxpayers, Wendel said. It could also help 27 other counties that have joined Chautauqua County in creating fly car programs.
“The governor still has not declared EMS as an essential service,” Wendel said. “Once the governor does that it’s a different playing field in terms of funding from the state. The governor talked about funding EMS, I think they’re looking at $3 billion. That’s a drop in the budget. They’re talking about spending more on asylum seekers than emergency care.”