Boston Mayor Marty Walsh recently proposed that the budget for the city’s emergency medical service provider, Boston EMS, be raised by 5.7 percent.
In the proposed increase, the Boston EMS budget would go up to $57.9 million for fiscal year 2017. The money that Walsh proposes could help the department get more emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and buy additional ambulances.
Currently, Boston EMS has about 40 ambulances, both frontline and backup trucks that are used when frontline trucks have issues or when large events occur and extra ambulances are required. The budget could mean that 10 new ambulances could be bought and replace some of the aging trucks.
Currently, Boston EMS has 24 ambulances out on the street on the average shift. With the additional money, the department could add two additional ambulances to cover the city. The Boston Herald reports that the two additional would cost $199,551 per truck.
In terms of personnel, the extra money would mean the hire of 20 additional EMTs, giving the department a total of 371 uniformed personnel.
Boston EMS would additionally put $50,000 into looking into making a Boston EMS Training Academy and $100,000 into studying for a possible location for an EMS station in the Innovation District along the Boston waterfront.
Boston EMS records from 2015 show that responses to Dorchester and downtown areas combined made up half the total number of calls that Boston EMS responded to—120,000 according to the Boston Herald.
While this is welcomed news to Boston EMS, not all city officials may be thrilled at the news. Boston Police Department and Boston Fire Department were told by Walsh to cut overtime costs and Boston EMS’s parent organization, the Boston Public Health Commission, was told to reign in its spending for the upcoming year.
According to his proposal: “These investments will result in a number of tangible benefits, including reduced response times, fewer 911 emergency medical calls referred to private ambulance companies, lower overtime costs, and expanded surge capacity during major city events.”
Walsh’s plan to pay for the increase in budget is by using money from health insurance claims and cutting down on Boston EMS employee overtime. Walsh’s plan for EMTs and ambulances should lower the current response time which averages currently about 7 minutes. The plan would also address the City of Boston using local private ambulances as backup if all the department’s fleet are tied up in other calls.
Boston Public Health Commission spokeswoman, Marjorie Nesin, told the Boston Herald that “the added personnel and ambulances will enhance our capacity to respond to calls.”
U.S. Census data shows that the city’s population in 2013 (645,966 people) has risen four percent since 2010. According to city data between 2014 and 2015, calls for emergency had risen more than seven percent, according to the Boston Herald.
Walsh pointed to this in defense of his proposal. Walsh said that while the city’s population has been growing, the city’s EMS response capabilities have not.
Walsh told Boston CBS that “as our city grows, we need to make sure we have state of the art equipment, because you don’t know what the situation is, and you want to make sure that, whether it’s an ambulance or a firefighter or a police officer, you want to make sure they have the equipment they need to respond appropriately.”