Calif. Mayor Proposes Firefighters Take Over Patient Transport
March 16--SAN JOSE -- Frustrated over the shaky financial status and slow 911 response times of the private ambulance service for the city, Mayor Sam Liccardo on Monday unveiled a plan that may lead to San Jose firefighters taking on a vital new task: transporting patients to the hospital.
The proposal, included in Liccardo's first annual budget message, is in its early stages but in theory could generate enough revenue for the city to expand its short-staffed fire department while speeding up ambulance rides. But it might prove too costly to implement, and firefighters aren't thrilled about the idea.
The fire department shakeup was the most significant new element of the mayor's budget message, which the City Council will discuss on March 24. The plan lays out how Liccardo will divvy up a rare $8.3 million surplus, which is still less than 1 percent of the overall general-fund budget, for the fiscal year that starts in July, and it focuses on expanding public safety, children's services and infrastructure.
Firefighters already are the first authorities on scene to treat people suffering from a medical emergency, and then they have to wait for the private ambulance company, Rural/Metro, to arrive and take the patient to the hospital. Under Liccardo's vision, firefighter paramedics in smaller vehicles, possibly with one crew per fire station, would do the entire job, from stabilizing the patient through dropping them off at the hospital.
"Frankly, I think it would be more efficient," Liccardo said Monday.
Rural/Metro's contract to provide ambulance services for most of Santa Clara County expires in July 2016, and the company has already declared bankruptcy and suffered response times that are below city standards. At the same time, San Jose's fire department has failed to meet its own response-time goals as its staff has shrunk over the last decade because of budget cuts. The city now has 670 firefighters.
Liccardo said other cities in the county have expressed interest in having their fire departments take over emergency medical services, as others such as Palo Alto and Sacramento already have, but San Jose would be the first to formally study the issue. Until the findings are released in December, details on the revenue the plan would generate, how much extra staffing would be required and the key question of whether it would pencil out financially for the city won't be available.
The mayor will have to work to get the firefighters on board, as well, as they are still reeling from the recession-era elimination of several crews.
"The city should focus on restoring the debilitating cuts to fire services that occurred in 2010, resulting in San Jose being unable to meet its emergency medical response times, before considering an expansion into the ambulance transport business," said Joel Phelan, the firefighters union president.
Although small, the surplus is the third in the last 14 years for the city, which has seen its overall workforce shrink by 23 percent in the last decade. The mayor wants to set aside $2.5 million for a reserve and has allocated new spending to several other previously-announced programs, including expanding branch library hours, beefing up after-school and teen jobs programs and using one-time funding for immigration affairs services.
"What I emphasize here is an investment in the future," Liccardo said.
While Liccardo's memo outlines his priorities for the coming fiscal year, the full budget won't be released until June.
The mayor also vowed to settle the ongoing lawsuit with employees over 2012 voter-approved pension reforms, which has hampered the city's ability to attract officers to its shrinking police department while preventing the city from reaping tens of millions of dollars in annual savings. In an encouraging sign, the public safety unions said they were ready to return to the bargaining table following recent concessions from the city, and the two sides on Monday were working out possible dates for negotiations.
As expected, the budget will include funding for polling on a potential November 2016 revenue-raising ballot measure, though Liccardo said he will wait for the results before deciding whether to support one. Likely options include a sales tax increase to predominantly fund public safety, and a bond to pay for street repairs.
Another new service included in the spending plan would be a "neighborhood dashboard," where residents can log on to a site where they can report problems like their streetlight being out or a bench covered in graffiti. They could see if their neighbors have already griped about the same problem and check the status of repairs.
Contact Mike Rosenberg at 408-920-5705. Follow him at Twitter.com/RosenbergMerc.
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