WILMINGTON — The City of Wilmington has decided turn down more than $1 million in federal grant money that would have added 14 new firefighters and implemented the so-called pilot Aid Car Program, which was approved by City Council last February.
As part of the grant application, the city had set aside $224,011 in the current budget specifically for the Aid Car Program. Now, instead of going toward hiring new firefighters with the $224,011, city staff is recommending using the funds to provide more benefits and, possibly, increase salaries for current city employees.
Had the program been implemented, the city would have been responsible for providing $749,932 of its own money to meet the total project cost of $1,956,318.
According to the 2017-18 budget presentation, “The Fire Department implemented a pilot Aid Car program with resources provided in FY17. An aid car response team … running one shift from the Cinema Drive Fire Station, is aimed at reducing the number of responses by front line apparatus when dispatched to EMS incidents and reduce personnel over time. The program creates a safer community as well as reduces overall maintenance and fuel use of the fire suppression vehicles currently performing this task.”
Due to a lack of staff, the pilot program was put on hold as firefighters were returned to fire engines and taken out of the Aid Car program, Deputy City Manager Tony Caudle said.
“The Aid Car Program was designed to provide a smaller vehicle and staffing for that vehicle at one station for one shift so we could determine whether or not EMS calls could be run more effectively and efficiently through the use of smaller vehicles,” Caudle said.
City Spokesman Dylan Lee explained that the pilot program did not provide sufficient data and instead of accepting the grant and launching the program all at once, the city will phase the program in.
‘The reason for applying for the grant was based on a pilot program that they were unable to get sufficient data for because they did not have enough staff. They can’t in good faith commit to spending that money without having the data.’ — SPOKESMAN DYLAN Lee
According to City Manager Sterling Cheatham, city staff is recommending the denial of the grant, “until additional data has been collected on the Aid Car Program, further discussion can occur with other local providers regarding the potential for comprehensive long-term approaches to the growth in calls for EMS services; and we retain more funds for the implantation of the results of the employee compensation and benefit study for current employees, in lieu of adding more employees at this time.”
“The reason for applying for the grant was based on a pilot program that they were unable to get sufficient data for because they did not have enough staff. They can’t in good faith commit to spending that money without having the data,” Lee said.
According to the City Council’s agenda, city staff is suggesting implementing the Aid Car Program in phases instead of accepting the grant.
City Councilman Kevin O’Grady said the money would remain with the city and be spent somewhere else, stating that it is not unusual for something like this to happen.
Michael Praats can be reached at Michael.p@localvoicemedia.com
