Ambulnz claimed it needed more money
For several years, through 2021, Putnam County contracted for advanced life support coverage by EMStar, a regional ambulance service that became part of Empress Ambulance Service two years ago.
But in January 2022, then-County Executive MaryEllen Odell replaced Empress/EMStar with Ambulnz. Now, Putnam is switching again.
The county on Tuesday (July 11) announced the return of Empress Ambulance Service to supply emergency advanced life support (ALS), effective Sunday (July 16), ending Ambulnz’s 18-month run.
Ambulance-based ALS typically involves treatment by specially trained paramedics in cases of heart attacks, strokes and other major crises. Local ambulance corps staff, often emergency medical technicians, supply basic life support (BLS) to stabilize someone before reaching a hospital.
Empress’ three-year contract to provide ALS services is for $8.3 million, or about $2.77 million each year, with the possibility of a two-year extension, County Executive Kevin Byrne said in a July 11 news release. The county budget, adopted last fall, earmarked $1.53 million for ambulance coverage for 2023.
Although he observed that “it had been previously reported that Ambulnz significantly underbid their initial contract,” Byrne thanked Ambulnz “for all their work” over 18 months.
“Providing for the health and well-being of our residents will always be a top priority,” he said. “We’re excited to have a new agreement with a strong, reputable partner like Empress to bring quality services to Putnam.”
Byrne, a Republican like his predecessor, Odell, explained that Ambulnz recently requested a new contract and that Putnam agreed to review the company’s proposal but also intended to request bids from others.
Robert Lipton, commissioner of Putnam’s Bureau of Emergency Services, had informed county officials in May that Ambulnz, claiming it earned too little money, might exercise its escape clause. The county then began weighing options.
In 2021, when the county sought bids, Ambulnz proposed to charge $1.5 million for 2022, the first year of a five-year contract. Empress/EMStar sought $1.9 million and no other ALS service submitted bids.
As county plans crystallized, volunteer ambulance corps members and other critics warned that Ambulnz could try to charge more after 2022 and might be stretched too thin to meet Putnam’s needs. By December 2021, Ambulnz already operated in 26 U.S. states and the United Kingdom under a company called Motion, a special-purpose acquisition firm.
Empress serves the Town of Wappinger and operates in the Bronx in New York City and in neighboring Dutchess, Westchester, Rockland and Orange counties, as well as in Ulster and Sullivan counties. Ambulnz handles ALS coverage in Beacon.
A majority of the Putnam Legislature in 2021 backed Odell in favoring Ambulnz over Empress. On the final vote, approving a $40,467 fund transfer to launch the deal, only Nancy Montgomery, a Democrat whose district consists of Philipstown and part of Putnam Valley, voted “no.”
Bill Gouldman, a Republican legislator who represents the remainder of Putnam Valley, defied his seven Republican colleagues by also voting against the transfer.
At the time, Montgomery objected that the legislators had never seen the Ambulnz contract. But Legislator Ginny Nacerino of Patterson, who chaired the legislative Protective Services Committee, asserted that legislators’ only function was to agree to the fund transfer. Letting legislators read the contract “would have compromised” its integrity, she said.
Putnam’s charter does not require the Legislature’s review of a contract involving authorized appropriations and related expenditures before the county executive signs it.
On Tuesday, Nacerino, who still chairs Protective Services, said that “Empress has a stellar reputation in the Hudson Valley and I’m hopeful that this new contract will serve our community well. I look forward to hearing from Empress’ representatives” at the next committee meeting on Thursday (July 20).
Montgomery said on Wednesday that “Empress has served regions of New York for over 40 years. I’m thrilled that they are serving Putnam.”
