The City of Warren has charted a course to no longer respond to ambulance calls outside city limits.

It’s detailed in a letter dated Feb. 11 to municipal leaders in Clarendon, Glade, Youngsville, Sheffield and Pine Grove.

The city’s refrain isn’t new: City resources are responding to calls outside city limits and that “city taxpayers have subsidized the cost of providing EMS to your community.”

The proposed actions, however, do mark a significant change in policy.

“The city seeks to enter into a cooperative management agreement with the township,” according to one of the letters that was provided by the city. That agreement “will ensure that city taxpayers are no longer subsidizing operations which are required to be provided by the Township.”

The letter, signed by City Manager Nancy Freenock, states that if an agreement can’t be negotiated in the next 30 days, the city “will invoice your municipality for the 911 ambulance responses that the WFD (Warren Fire Department) provides for your community….”

The fees, the letter explains, will be implemented until the city can complete the process outlined in a letter from the state regarding pulling out from the county’s response plan.

“That means that, as of a date certain,” the letter says, “the city will no longer respond to calls for service in your municipality.”

Freenock wrote that mutual aid for fire calls will not be affected but stressed that “it is unfair to city taxpayers to continue to use their tax dollars to subsidize EMS in the township.

“The revenues the WFD collects for the ambulance services it provides simply do not cover its EMS operating costs,” the letter states.

Of the nearly 1,600 calls in 2020, about 300 were for service outside city limits. While some were billable, costs “were not covered by the revenues it received for those responses” which “rightfully should have been the financial responsibility of the municipality in which the WFD provided those responses.

“The costs should not be foisted upon the City’s taxpayers.”

For example, the city estimates that responding to 81 calls in Pleasant Township in 2021 resulted in “lost revenue” of approximately $37,919.

“The city is willing to work with the township to help ensure that its residents receive the emergency medical services as needed,” the letter states. “However, the city no longer provide EMS response ofr your community without covering the costs of its responses.”

EMS continues to be a problem without a global solution throughout Warren County.

EmergyCare has expanded its presence in several areas of the county via agreements with municipalities and several municipalities in the southeast portion of the county are in early stage talks of potential collaboration.

County officials continue to work on tri-county EMS and fire studies with Crawford and Erie counties which aims to bring a de-facto EMS coordinator to assist responders in ensuring compliance with a new county-wide response plan that is on the brink of approval.