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Rockport reviews EMS first year, revenue shortfalls and rising supply costs
Summary
Town leaders heard a recap of Rockport's first year operating its own EMS, with staff reporting high satisfaction but delayed billing and new federal narcotics rules that push up supply costs. Discussion focused on reserves for expensive equipment and ways to increase mutual-aid revenue.
Rockport budget officials spent the opening hour of their joint meeting reviewing the town's emergency medical services after roughly a year of in-house operations. Jason Peasley, introduced at the start of the meeting as the Emergency Management Agency director, told the committee the new service has been "very, very busy," that crews have returned overwhelmingly positive survey results and that staff received thanks from residents "including one gentleman ... thanking us for saving his life." Peasley noted the first full-year license date was only recently reached and cautioned that billing is still catching up from early delays.
Why it matters: The EMS program is now one of the town's largest expenditures and a recurring operating cost; how the town balances rising supply and equipment costs against delayed and variable collections will influence the next budget cycle.
Committee members pressed staff on three financial pressures. First, mutual-aid revenue is billed at $800 per response to other towns but can be followed by delayed insurance payments; Peasley said the town had gone out on mutual aid roughly 41 times in the first nine months and that December billings often arrive in January. "There's a lot of revenue still to come," he said, noting the timing of collections can make first-year totals look low. Second, the town has proposed creating an equipment reserve to smooth replacement of high-cost devices — for example, a ZOLL cardiac monitor that costs in the tens of thousands — rather than budgeting to replace the single most expensive item every year. The chair said counsel advised the town to expend encumbered funds when appropriate rather than hoarding them.
Third, supplies are becoming more expensive because of new federal requirements for controlled drugs. Peasley warned that a recent DEA policy change has pushed responsibility for narcotics handling away from hospital partners and toward EMS agencies nationwide; "agencies everywhere ... will have to purchase through a company online," he said, noting purchases now come as individual shipments and add handling steps and cost. Committee members asked why operational supplies in the proposed budget had doubled; staff attributed much of the increase to the new supply chain and storage rules.
The committee also discussed revenue assumptions. Staff noted a stalled state bill that had been expected to allow billing non-transported patients would have contributed roughly $35,000 but has not passed. Finance staff said the town will review uncollectible accounts in June and use designated funds to write off accounts for Rockport residents if appropriate, a step that would impact the FY26-27 bottom line.
What comes next: Members asked for a concise recap of billing and collections through February so they can better judge FY27 revenue assumptions; staff said they could deliver that report before the next budget committee meeting. If billing trends remain delayed, the committee said it will consider whether assumptions for mutual-aid and transport revenue should be revised.
