Mayor Steve Noble is asking the Common Council to fund the final piece of his plan to implement around-the-clock ambulance service by the Kingston Fire Department. In a memo to Council President Andrea Shaut, Noble asked for funding to hire eight new firefighters and to ratify a memorandum of understanding with the Kingston Professional Firefighters Association that will establish new leadership positions, bonuses and staffing levels for the fledgling ambulance service.

If approved, Noble’s request would bring to 16 the number of new city firefighters hired in recent months, an expansion of nearly one-third over the department’s 2023 strength.

All Kingston firefighters are certified EMTs and the department has always responded to medical calls. But in the past, the task of transporting patients from the scene of a call to the hospital was left to a private-service provider. That changed on Jan. 1 when Noble, having rejected an offer by local provider Empress Ambulance to provide two ambulances to serve the city exclusively in exchange for an annual payment of $1 million, ordered the KFD to assume responsibility for emergency medical transport.

Initially an ad-hoc effort using firefighters on overtime or temporarily pulled from other duties, the ambulance service has evolved with the addition of eight new firefighters in March. The city also contracted with an outside vendor to begin billing insurance companies for ambulance service, an effort that is expected to net the city about $1.1 million per year. (The city will absorb the costs for the uninsured.)

Now, Noble has asked the council to complete the staffing-up process by hiring another eight firefighters. That would raise the authorized strength of the department from its 2023 level of 54 to 70. The added personnel will allow the department to operate two Advanced Life Support ambulances around the clock without incurring overtime or placing apparatus out of service while a member is on ambulance duty.

Plans call for the hiring to take place in phases with four new members coming onboard in June. The remainder will await the results of grant application through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that could offset the cost of up to six firefighters for three years. The plan is expected to cost an additional $556,000 this year.

Noble said the city’s still working up a total projected cost for the new ambulance service and that the information would be available on May 28 when the council’s Finance Committee is expected to vote on the plan.

In addition to the funding request, Noble is also asking lawmakers to approve changes to the collective bargaining agreement with the KPFFA. Those changes include setting a minimum staffing level of 10 personnel per shift assigned to firefighting duties and four to run the ambulances. The MOA also increases the annual bonus for firefighters who are certified EMTs from $1,000 to $2,000 and creates a new paramedic stipend of $5,500 per year. The deal also creates four new first-line supervisory positions and an EMS coordinator who will receive captain’s pay. Under the terms of the agreement, all of the new hires must undergo training at a formal fire academy.

Noble’s request to the council also includes approval of a fee schedule for ambulance services ranging from $250 for a “treatment, no transport” call to $2,400 to a “specialty transport.” Insurers will be charged $1,900 for emergency calls.