BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Common Council held a special meeting Tuesday afternoon to rapid-fire approve several resolutions before their August recess.
One of those resolutions mandates that the Buffalo Fire Department and Department of Finance and Administration complete a feasibility study for a city-operated ambulance service.
"I asked the Fire Commissioner about it during budget workshops and budget hearings, I asked him if he thought it'd be a good idea for us to create our own ambulance service," Council President Chris Scanlon said. "He seemed to like the idea at the time, so I'd like to have follow-up conversations with him to see if he's still on the same page."
This resolution comes after several members of the common council have recently received complaints about ambulances taking hours to respond to emergencies.
"There was a woman who contacted my office earlier this week. Her mother had a heart attack," Delaware District Councilman Joel Feroleto said. "It took five hours to get an ambulance after her mother had a heart attack. Assuming all of that is true, that's certainly unacceptable
AMR has an exclusive contract with the city for ambulance service, but that contract expired in 2021 and has been grandfathered over year-to-year ever since.
However, the mounting complaints caused the council to unanimously vote for the study resolution. Councilman Mitch Nowakowski was the only member of the council absent from Tuesday's special meeting.
The resolution directs the two city departments to complete a comprehensive study within 180 days--January 26, so mark your calendars.
While many council members elaborated on concerns from their constituents, University District Councilman Rasheed N.C. Wyatt was the only lawmaker to urge caution about finding a quick reason to ditch AMR.
"When I think about how the City manages things and what the city does, I'm not so confident that I'm going to put my life in the hands of the city that can't get a lot of things done," Councilman Wyatt said during the meeting.
Councilmembers didn't know how much the city currently pays AMR for its ambulance service. A spokesperson for Mayor Brown's office did not have the figure when 2 On Your Side inquired but was working to get an answer.
Wyatt is concerned that the city still has budget gaps and that adding a new service would be costly.
"We're here looking at another year, next year, at maybe $50 to $60 million budget gap, and we still don't know we're going to address that," Wyatt said.
When Erie Co. established its service in 2023, the initial upstart cost was $4.5M, with an annual operating cost of roughly $2M.
Council President Scanlon was more optimistic about a city-run service, and it being a revenue generator for the city.
"You have to take a look at what the cost is going to be upfront, but then long term, if it turns into a revenue generator," Scanlon said. "Is it something that we could put together and it benefits the city of Buffalo, both in service to the resident, but also to our bottom line? "
AMR has stated that they will be present for a September committee meeting to answer questions from council members. The company also reiterated that their response times fall within industry standards.