Bowie volunteer fire leaders ask council to cover $7,000 ramp shortfall and boost ambulance stipend fund

Leaders of Bowie’s volunteer fire service asked the City Council on Monday for two pieces of financial help: a one-time reimbursement of $7,000 to cover a shortfall for repairs to the concrete apron at Station 39, and additional city support for a stipend program that pays volunteers to staff an ambulance during daytime hours.

The deputy chief of the volunteer department said the station’s front ramp failed and that the department secured $25,000 in state funding toward a $32,000 repair. "We were able to secure 25,000 against a cost that came in at 32,000," he said, and requested that the council consider reimbursing the $7,000 gap from the municipal grants account that the city maintains for community initiatives.

The second request described a paid-on-call stipend intended to increase daytime staffing at Station 39 after Prince George’s County removed career personnel from that location. The department has restarted a stipend program that pays $25 an hour for an eight-hour shift to encourage volunteers to staff the ambulance. "We allocated 20,000, and we're paying $25 an hour for an 8 hour shift," the deputy chief said, adding the department sought a larger city contribution — he discussed a $50,000 figure as a possible level of support — to expand coverage from a few days per week to more frequent daytime and weekend coverage.

Deputy Chief Jonathan Howard, present with the volunteer leadership, told council that ambulance responses make up about 80% of the department’s runs and that keeping the ambulance staffed helps both emergency response and the department’s revenues from transports, which the deputy chief said average about $650 per transport and help fund apparatus purchases. He also outlined equipment costs: modern fire engines at roughly $800,000 and aerial apparatus approaching $1.2 million.

Mayor Pro Tem and other council members said they appreciated the volunteers’ work and asked the city manager to review both requests and return to council with options. City staff said the city’s municipal grant account contains a $100,000 line the council can use by vote; managers told the council they would run numbers and present the requests for an up-or-down vote at the council’s next meeting on Sept. 2.

The council did not take an immediate vote on either request; instead members directed staff to review the grant account and present formal agenda items at the Sept. 2 meeting. In the interim, the department said it has already paid the contractor for the ramp repair and is operating the stipend program on limited days, reporting about 40 hours of stipend staffing and roughly two dozen to 30 calls covered during that early period.

If the council approves a stipend augmentation, staff warned the council that the amount requested could be drawn down quickly depending on how often shifts are staffed; council members asked staff to identify the exact dollar amount the department seeks so the funding can be considered against the city’s grant balance.

Council members and department leaders emphasized the requests are intended to improve immediate public safety outcomes rather than create a long-term guaranteed payroll for volunteers. The council directed staff to coordinate with the volunteer leadership, the city’s emergency manager, and the public safety committee and to return to the council with a formal recommendation and any budgetary changes needed for an September 2 vote.

Ending: The council’s request for staff analysis sets a clear next step: the reimbursement and stipend proposals will be considered at the council’s Sept. 2 meeting, when members may vote to authorize use of grant funds or include changes in the upcoming budget cycle.