Butler County municipalities grapple with what to do about EMS funding
As 2024 begins, one of the major issues hovering over the small municipalities of Pennsylvania is how they will handle the emergency medical services crisis.
In Forward Township, a three-member task force will determine how to distribute funds to its three EMS services: Quality EMS, Harmony EMS and Butler Ambulance Service.
In late 2023, the township supervisors decided they would allocate funds from the Local Services Tax in 2024 to provide short-term funding for the EMS providers in the form of a grant.
The Local Services Tax is levied on all individuals who hold an income-paying job within a taxing jurisdiction in Pennsylvania which imposes the tax.
“This task force is going to come up with requirements that the EMS providers need to meet in order to obtain this Local Services Tax revenue,” Hartwig said.
The task force consists of supervisor Mark Wilson (who was named chairman of the board of supervisors earlier in the meeting), and township residents Sheryle Long and Kent Schumaker. Their main responsibility is to ensure the tax revenue is spent responsibly.
“The EMS providers will have to meet the requirements that are set up for those grants,” Hartwig said. “Those requirements may be a commitment to use it toward the people on the rescue vehicles, or for education or equipment ... things of that nature.”
EMS services in Pennsylvania have been under great strain in recent years due largely to increasing operational costs, high staff turnover, and stagnant reimbursement rates from insurance providers.
In late 2023, Quality EMS director Conrad Pfeifer toured the county and met with local governments in an effort to find funding from the municipalities in Quality’s coverage area. This includes Adams Township, Mars, Middlesex Township, Valencia, Callery, and part of Forward Township.
Forward Township’s 2024 budget anticipates $28,881 in Local Services Tax revenue this year. Further down the budget, a line item calls for $28,000 of funding to be made available to EMS providers.
There is one complication, however. Unlike the other two, the Butler Ambulance Service is a for-profit entity, making it potentially unable to accept grant money.
“Since they are one of our providers, this task force will look into that, just to be certain that they can or can't receive any of this revenue,” Hartwig said.
At its own reorganization meeting on Tuesday night, Middlesex Township’s board of supervisors opted to table a resolution to enter into an agreement with Quality EMS on the amount of money it would contribute to the agency.
Township manager Jeffrey Winkle said further discussion was needed, and they wanted to wait to see what the other municipalities in Quality EMS’s coverage area would do.
