By Stephen T. Watson
The Buffalo News
TONAWANDA, N.Y. 鈥� Ten months after Town of Tonawanda officials announced an ambitious plan to launch a municipal ambulance corps to serve the town and Village of Kenmore, the program has yet to leave the garage.
Town of Tonawanda Police Chief James Stauffiger discusses the town鈥檚 plan to create a municipal ambulance service at a news conference last year in the town鈥檚 paramedics division garage. Deputy Town Supervisor Gina Santa Maria and Town Supervisor Joseph Emminger look on.
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Tonawanda leaders unveiled the program in October and said it promised to improve emergency response times in the town and village, at no cost to taxpayers.
They predicted it would be up and running by early this year, with full service by the end of 2025, but instead, the four ambulances purchased by the town for nearly $1 million have remained idled.
Tonawanda Supervisor Joseph Emminger said he remains optimistic about the future potential of the service, which has drawn criticism from town Republicans, despite the delays.
Emminger declined to offer an updated prediction for the service鈥檚 launch but said he should have more to say soon.
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Town leaders had initially anticipated starting up the ambulance service in January or February, but that won鈥檛 happen now.
鈥淲e鈥檙e still gung-ho on doing the project,鈥� Emminger said in an interview. 鈥淲e think it鈥檚 a great project for the community and for the town budget. So we are moving forward with it. It鈥檚 just taking longer, obviously, than we had originally anticipated and subsequently anticipated.鈥�
For now, Twin City Ambulance continues to provide the same level of ambulance services in the town and village as always, without a formal agreement in place, Twin City President Terry Clark told The Buffalo News.
Twin City initially said it was blindsided by the town鈥檚 announcement, which frayed the relationship between town and the ambulance company.
Clark had disputed the town鈥檚 rationale for launching the service and suggested Tonawanda would have more trouble than it anticipated starting the program from scratch.
Clark said the town and Twin City are talking about how to work together in the future, though he declined to provide details.
Representatives of the town and Twin City will meet Friday, two weeks after the company said it was blindsided by Tonawanda鈥檚 ambulance announcement. A top Twin City executive said he hopes to persuade town officials to reassess the viability of a municipal ambulance corps.
鈥淎t the moment, I don鈥檛 have much information to share with you other than to say that the hiatus is over and we are back having discussions with the Town of Tonawanda,鈥� he said in an email.
At the Oct. 3 announcement, Emminger, Police Chief James Stauffiger and other town officials said the new municipal ambulance corps would offer better service for town and village residents.
Emminger said town officials began discussing the creation of the service in 2023, after Stauffiger and town Paramedic Supervisor Matt De Rose raised concerns about delays in ambulances getting to emergencies in Tonawanda and Kenmore.
The town retained Fitch & Associates, which reported the town could expect to see improved ambulance response times if it launched its own service.
The consultant said the town should expect to break even, at worst, or make money on the ambulance service once it鈥檚 fully operational, a finding touted by Emminger.
The company sent a 鈥渃ease-and-desist鈥� letter to Tonawanda Supervisor Joseph Emminger on Friday, one day after officials held a news conference to announce the town intended to launch its own ambulance service.
Fitch recommended the town buy four ambulances and hire 20 EMTs to staff them, along with two additional full-time paramedics.
Two of the four ambulances would be in service around the clock, one would operate 12 hours a day and the fourth would be available as a backup, town officials said in October.
Tonawanda was part of a growing trend of municipalities starting their own ambulance services, including Niagara and Erie counties.
Hiring has been an issue for private ambulance services, but town officials were optimistic Tonawanda would get sufficient interest from would-be EMTs by offering competitive pay and benefits and an attractive work schedule.
Twin City officials last fall said the town never contacted them about any response-time concerns and the company refuted the town鈥檚 claims and the findings of the consultant.
The move is driven by frustration over how long it takes Twin City Ambulance ,the private ambulance company that serves the town, to respond to emergencies, Supervisor Joseph Emminger said in an interview prior to the formal announcement.
In late December, De Rose told The News the town would not get its first ambulances on the road in January or February, as originally predicted, but instead by midyear.
De Rose and Emminger at that time cited delays in getting required regulatory approvals.
The paramedic supervisor said in December the town had finally received permission to post the EMT and paramedics positions through the civil service process and he expected to begin sorting through applications soon.
The Town Board had agreed to pay $946,000 for the four ambulances and necessary equipment, which were expected to arrive early in the new year.
Today, the town has the four ambulances, which Emminger said are fully outfitted but await the attachment of exterior graphics.
The town has not hired any of the anticipated 20 EMTs, Emminger said in a recent interview, and won鈥檛 until it has a better sense of when the program will begin operations.
He declined to provide an updated start date beyond sometime this year.
鈥淲e are hoping to have an announcement in the very near future,鈥� Emminger said.
Tonawanda Republicans, who have no representation on the Town Board but hope to make inroads in this election year, have criticized the ambulance plan as overly ambitious and unrealistic.
鈥淲ith no update, I鈥檓 just wondering what they鈥檙e up to,鈥� town GOP Chair Scott Marciszewski said in an interview last month. 鈥淎nd costs are going up. So is this still doable for the town? Is there still a price point that makes sense for the taxpayers in the town?鈥�
Emminger noted the town has received a $250,000 state grant, through the office of Assembly Member Bill Conrad, D- Town of Tonawanda, that will cover one-fourth of the cost of the ambulances.
And he said the town won鈥檛 have to begin paying off the money borrowed to purchase the rigs until next year.
But he said he鈥檚 convinced the service, whenever it becomes fully operational, will pay for itself, including the cost of liability insurance, ambulance storage, EMT pay and benefits and other expenses.
The town will receive revenue from government and private insurers covering the cost of rides and treatment provided to patients by the Tonawanda ambulance crews.
鈥淚t isn鈥檛 going to add one dollar to the tax burden of the taxpayers,鈥� Emminger said.
As for the town and Twin City, Emminger said the 鈥渟train鈥� that marked their partnership last fall has improved.
鈥淲e鈥檙e very happy with the job that they have done over the course of the past 10 months or so,鈥� Emminger said. 鈥淪o the relationship is good.鈥�
Clark agreed, pointing to a meeting he held with town officials on Wednesday.
鈥淭win City is putting together a proposal to better integrate our service with theirs,鈥� Clark said, without elaborating.
As for Clark鈥檚 prediction the town would struggle to launch its ambulance service, he declined to celebrate his prescience.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 wish to rub anybody鈥檚 nose in that,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淭hings tend to be more complicated and time-consuming than they appear from a distance.鈥�
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