Detroit EMS Privatization a Possibility

DETROIT (WJBK) -- Emergency services in Detroit have been criticized and rightfully so. City leaders are now looking to make huge cuts and privatizing ambulance services is one possibility. The clock is ticking as Governor Rick Snyder's threat of an emergency manager looms.

"The ideal scenario to avoid the city running out of cash by the end of the fiscal year would be to consider 2,300 layoffs," said Detroit City Council Member Ken Cockrel, Junior.

Desperate times are calling for desperate measures. Cockrel said with a deadline looming, city council is feeling the mayor's cuts are not deep enough and they are recommending unprecedented cuts and solutions.

Council members, who voted to take an additional 20 percent pay cut, are considering selling city cemeteries, closing recreation centers, ending vehicle leases, eliminating subsidies to city museums, cutting six figure salaries by 15 percent, raising casino taxes and privatizing DDOT and possibly EMS.

"It's also a controversial issue, but the reality is I think it's something that we have to take a real serious look at," Cockrel told us.

"I was just blind sided today. My phone started ringing. It's been ringing all night, and, quite frankly, didn't see this coming," said POAM union president Joe Barney.

He's realizing the jobs of nearly 200 EMTs are on the line. He, too, recognizes Detroit's EMS system is broken. Day after day, there are delays and multiple rigs are out of service, but he feels outsourcing is not the answer, claiming it will cost the city more in the long run.

"Last few times they attempted to privatize EMS, I believe it was the auditor general, at the time it was cheaper to keep EMS," Barney said. "You're going to pay at some point. You're going to lose control of your EMS system."

Like many unions, Barney said he's tried to work with the city to reach the concessions the mayor is demanding.

"We were willing to take the cuts, but sometimes it has to be more than a one way street," he told us.

However, the reality is with an emergency manager, many unions may not have a choice. The state is currently combing over the city's finances to determine if it should intervene. Another possibility is a consent agreement, which would give the mayor and council budget cutting power while still having control of the city, something Cockrel favors.

"If you meet the terms of the contract or the terms of the agreement, then potentially everybody wins. The state's satisfied because they see that the city's making progress, and the city's satisfied because it's able to maintain control," he said.

Any recommendations from the council would need to be approved by the mayor to be part of the city's plan.

Barney told us EMS is going to ask for donations of ambulances or money so they can buy new ones. As we have mentioned before, Detroit can't get any loans to buy new ambulances.