No one should be surprised that the city of Warren is prepared to go to court to recoup payment from Conewango Township for city EMS services rendered to township residents.

The city has made no secret about the fact that it wants to be reimbursed for EMS responses outside of the city as a way to recoup costs for services paid for by city taxpayers but provided to non-city residents. One of the reasons city taxes are higher than township or borough taxes is police and fire services – and every time a Warren ambulance responds outside of Warren, city taxpayers are subsidizing a township’s decision to not to have a paid fire department.

No one should be surprised, either, that Conewango Township hasn’t yet paid for the 13 EMS calls dating back to 2023. EMS response has long been governed by a mutual aid system – with no costs attached – that dictates who responds when a volunteer fire department’s members aren’t available to respond to a fire or EMS call. Conewango officials have publicly stated their opposition to Warren’s billing, in part because the mutual aid system has always held that the city will respond if the township’s volunteers can’t. The city argues these calls don’t fall under mutual aid, but responds in order to protect public health.

These battle lines have been drawn over the past couple of years. It was always likely that a court decision was going to be needed.

As it stands now, Warren’s EMS agreements with most of its neighboring townships and boroughs means Warren is a key player in the provision of EMS services. There are at least two areas where Warren has responded to EMS calls without agreements in place, but the city has been reimbursed for its responses. Warren’s fire department currently covers some 80% of the county’s population, which means the city is right now stepping up to help solve the EMS crisis in the county.

We’ve said it before, and it bears repeating now – there was never going to be a free solution to the rural EMS crisis facing both Warren County and the commonwealth. Everyone is eventually going to have to pay in one form or another.