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Council hears extended concerns about EMS staffing; plans to seek county funding and retention incentives
Summary
Council members described low ambulance availability (24% in May, 14% in April) and discussed pursuing roughly $200,000 from county CRA and PILT funds to boost retention and wages, possible regional consolidation and incentives such as property-tax breaks for on-call EMTs.
Council members and staff devoted a lengthy portion of the meeting to emergency medical services availability and staffing.
Dave and other council members said Orangeville’s ambulance availability had fallen sharply — "Orangeville is available 24% of the time in May, 14% in April," a council member said — and discussed possible remedies including retention pay, wage increases and combining services with neighboring garages.
Staff described a plan to approach the county commissioners for approximately $200,000 drawn from Community Reinvestment (CRA) and PILT funds to support retention and raise on-call pay. Councilors said those funds are not guaranteed and would be pursued to raise hourly on-call pay, increase recruitment and cover training costs. "We are approaching the commissioners for a combination of $200,000 between CRA and PILT monies," one council member said.
The council discussed training schedules, class costs ($700 per student for an advanced class over the mountain), the challenge of daytime coverage when volunteers are at their primary jobs, and non-billable calls that hurt EMS finances. Suggestions included targeted incentives (property-tax credits or sign-on bonuses) and prioritizing sending people to training to move them into higher pay tiers.
No formal funding commitment was made at the meeting. Councilors asked staff to continue exploring commissioner-level funding and to prioritize recruitment and training so the ambulance garages increase daytime availability.
