Almost a year ago, we raised doubts about Jamestown’s EMS program meeting its projected revenue goals.

It turns out those doubts were well-founded.

Mayor Kim Ecklund’s 2026 budget proposal notes that the second city ambulance still isn’t reaching the original 2024 revenue projections. It’s the second year in a row that ambulance revenue has left a hole in the budget. Its late delivery in 2024 meant the city had no chance to meet ambulance revenue included in former Mayor Eddie Sundquist’s last budget. And, the same trends that led the village of Fredonia’s EMS system and the county fly car system to miss revenue projections in the past have hit Jamestown’s EMS billing this year. EMS revenues came in $175,000 short in 2024 and $37,385 short so far in 2022. In response, Ecklund has decreased EMS revenues in her budget from $375,000 in her 2025 budget to $337,615 in her 2026 budget.

“While more comprehensive data now informs the 2026 budget, actual EMS income remains below initial projections, reflecting broader national trends in which municipalities face increasing difficulty in securing timely reimbursements for EMS services. Ensuring the delivery of high-quality, reliable emergency response remains a priority, and ongoing evaluation of the city’s EMS operations and financial model is essential to maintain sustainable services that protect and serve Jamestown residents,” Ecklund said in her budget presentation.

As we noted last year, the county had enough of a surplus to keep the fly car system afloat until County Executive PJ Wendel included more money for the fly car system in his 2025 budget. This year, it won’t run a deficit – but that’s only because Wendel was realistic about the program’s costs and revenue potential.

The city’s original plan was for grant-funded firefighters to staff ambulances, with the aim that ambulance revenue would pay for the additional staff when grant funding ran out. That isn’t going to happen. Accounting solely for wages and not for benefits, realistic EMS billing revenue of $337,615 in the 2026 city budget won’t pay the $478,080 cost of the eight SAFER grant funded firefighters whose primary job was supposed to be ambulance transport.

We had hoped the city wasn’t creating a new budget hole by pursuing ambulance transport with firefighters, but that is what it has done by accepting the SAFER grant and then seeing EMS revenues come in lower than anticipated. Remember, these grant-funded firefighters are the lowest-paid firefighters in the Jamestown Fire Department. Even if revenue stays consistent, the cost to run the ambulance goes up when higher-paid, more senior firefighters are manning an ambulance.

In short, the city needs to find a less expensive way to provide EMS service. It doesn’t have the luxury the county had of a massive fund balance to pay for EMS budget shortfalls year after year.