Town of Tonawanda, N.Y. (WBEN) - After more than two years of studying and working through all the minute details, the Town of Tonawanda will see its first ambulance corps begin service by January.
That's the pledge made by Supervisor Joseph Emminger and backed by the Tonawanda Town Board on Dec. 15.
"I see this as a win-win for the town and its residents," Emminger said. "There is no doubt there is a need for this service."
The corps will man two ambulances and have a six EMT team including four full timers and two part timers. The corps will operate daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Emminger said the intent is to provide "quicker response time."
The town will still use Twin City Ambulance, with Twin City handling approximately 75% of the calls and the corps taking the remaining 25%.
In fact, Emminger noted Tonawanda has extended its contract with Twin City for another two years.
Tonawanda has, approximately, 11,000 annual calls for ambulance service. Emminger estimates the corps will handle, on average, three calls per eight hour shift.
Using what he calls "very conservative" numbers, Emminger estimates the new service will produce slightly more than $1 million in revenues - generated from ambulance transportation fees.
But, expenses will cost the town an estimated $816,104 annually, meaning there may be a net revenue to the town of roughly $253,262.
Any net revenues will help Tonawanda pay for other expenses and anything else related to the corps operations.
"We are doing this in a fiscally responsible manner," Emminger said.
The corps will begin service once all the necessary paperwork and documents are filed and certified by New York state and Erie County. All 6 EMTs are still training but will be certified before the service begins, Emminger said.