Greene County officials discuss consolidating EMS into single county system to address staffing and finance gaps

Greene County officials, town representatives and EMS personnel spent a two-hour meeting reviewing a plan to consolidate multiple local ambulance agencies into a single countywide system, focusing on workforce shortages, equipment inventories and possible funding through a new taxing jurisdiction.

County staff presented the results of two staff/field sessions and a set of handouts that included fleet and facility inventories and summaries of outside studies. The presenter said the materials are an initial inventory and that departments had been “very engaged in discussion” during the smaller sessions. “All I’m doing is I’m going to develop an operational budget,” said Sean Daddio, who the group identified as the lead staff contact for producing cost estimates and a consolidation timetable. “Then we have to decide” how town contributions are applied if the county takes over operations, he said.

The discussion centered on three interlocking problems: workforce shortfalls that prevent running more rigs, inconsistent training and equipment across independent agencies, and the money needed to operate a larger consolidated system. Participants cited current annual municipal contributions of about $4.6 million from towns and roughly $2.5 million from the county as baseline revenue; they also noted “about $2,000,000 plus or minus in invoicing” currently collected by existing providers. Town and county leaders asked whether those town payments would shift to the county, be discounted, or be phased in.

Why it matters: EMS access is time-sensitive and relies on sustained staffing and equipment. Countywide consolidation would affect budgets, tax calculations and local control. The presenters said the governor’s proposed budget includes language to permit creation of…