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Goodfellowship Ambulance says borough call volume drove $300,000 funding request; council to press major users for support
Summary
Goodfellowship Ambulance told Westchester Borough council that rising call volume inside the borough — 2,281 dispatches used to set the 2026 budget — underpins a roughly $300,000 funding request. The provider urged the borough to press high-volume institutions including Westchester University and Haven Behavioral Hospital for financial support.
Council President Lisa Dorsey heard detailed call-volume data and a funding request for Goodfellowship Ambulance during the Westchester Borough Public Safety Committee meeting. Chazberg, the executive director for Goodfellowship Ambulance, said the service used 2,281 borough dispatches from a 12-month sample to set the 2026 budget and confirmed the organization is seeking about $300,000 from the borough for next year.
Why it matters: Council members and residents said major institutional users — notably Westchester University and Haven Behavioral Hospital — account for a large share of ambulance demand. If the borough absorbs most of the ambulance budget increase, taxpayers could bear added costs; several speakers urged the borough to seek contributions from high-volume nonmunicipal users.
Chazberg told the committee the 2,281 dispatches cover August 2024 through July 2025 and that the calls were broken out by location type. "Apartments and residences are the number one consumer there. The second consumer is Haven Behavioral Hospital," Chazberg said. He said Haven had generated “a lot of ambulance volume” and that Goodfellowship has discussed the issue with the hospital’s new CEO but no long-term solution exists to date. He also said 195 calls were physically on the Westchester University campus, though Goodfellowship does not track whether every patient is a student.
Goodfellowship reported 768 total calls in September, of which 180 occurred inside the borough, Justin Robbins, Goodfellowship’s director of operations, told the committee. Robbins and Chazberg said the ambulance provider will supply data and participate in borough-led meetings with major institutional users but that the borough government must lead those conversations.
Residents and council members responded. Bernie Flynn, a borough resident, proposed assembling a working team to invite the top users of ambulance services to meet with council. Flynn noted that some institutions, like Barclay Friends, have historically provided modest support to the borough and suggested the council pursue similar arrangements with others. Another resident, Bill Andy Baptiste, said Westchester University did contribute roughly $12,000–$13,000 last year for homecoming coverage and said the university has indicated it will contribute again this year.
Police Chief Josh Lee also spoke in support of preserving ambulance services. "No matter what council has to do to make it happen, I implore you to please make sure that it does happen," Lee said, noting the value of an uninterrupted ambulance provider.
What happens next: Council members agreed to add talks with Westchester University and other high-use institutions to an upcoming agenda and to invite Goodfellowship to participate. No formal municipal funding vote was recorded at the meeting.
Notes and limitations: Goodfellowship and council members described historical outreach to institutional users but said some organizations cite procurement or state restrictions as barriers. Goodfellowship stated the 2,281-dispatch figure and the September call counts as recorded; the transcript did not include a formal line-item budget showing the borough share or a signed commitment from member institutions.
