Residents share comments, concerns regarding proposed EMS funding in 2025 budget

Almost 100 Erie County residents gathered in a packed meeting room Tuesday for a public comment session about this year's budget — A budget that one former council member said has left people particularly concerned.

"More often you would have public hearings on the proposed budget that would have no one attending, so the past, I would say three years now, this will be the third year, you have capacity crowds, people spilling out into the hallway. That's not a good thing," said Mary Rennie, community advocate and former county councilwoman.

Many people in the council chambers voiced concerns about local EMS, which county executive Brenton Davis said is a top priority of his budget.

Davis's proposed budget would reallocate $2.5 million from county gaming revenue to bolster EMS services.

Concerns arise following proposed funding increase for local EMS services in 2025 budget

Many of the people who came to speak at the county courthouse had EMS services on their minds, and the problem doesn't necessarily come within the City of Erie, but rather the more rural townships in the county.

"There's some tremendous wait times. At our location in Corry, we're one of the farthest places from the county seat," said Corry City Council member Jeffery Fike. "If the traditional ambulance or EmergyCare is not available, we have our next nearest available coming out of Clymer, New York."

Fike said some EMS wait times range from 30 to 50 minutes and volunteer numbers are down.

But the former councilwoman said she has seen many county budgets in the past and doesn't think a centralized county EMS system is possible.

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"The county government does not have a mandate and does not have the funding to support an EMS service, and for some of the counties across the country that do have centralized EMS authorities on the county government level, it's extremely expensive, millions upon millions of dollars," said Rennie.

County council is still reviewing and will have until November 30 to finalize a budget.

If you would like to see the county budget proposal yourself, click here .