OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Fiscal Committee Budget Presentations - Stamford, Connecticut - March 24, 2026

Board of Representatives — Tuesday, March 24, 2026
BodyStamford, Connecticut
SessionBoard of Representatives
DateTuesday, March 24, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:15:39

Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

All right, it is now 730 officially.

0:04

Good evening, everyone.

0:05

This is the fiscal committee of the board of representatives.

0:08

Budget presentations.

0:10

And we're going to start out of order a little bit tonight.

0:13

Stafford EMS is going to present first.

0:15

And I have Eddie Brown and Mark Kersman here.

0:19

Which of you would like to start?

0:21

I'll make a few introductory remarks and then turn it over to Eddie if that's okay.

0:25

That's fine.

0:26

And do you need to present?

0:30

Beg your pardon?

0:31

Do you need to make a present?

0:32

Do you need to present anything?

0:34

Like uh slides or budget, something like that.

0:38

I Eddie, I think you have control over any slides, right?

0:42

Yeah, yeah.

0:44

Those are the slides we sent in.

0:45

So um well, good evening, everybody.

0:47

I'll uh right.

0:54

I'll I'll keep my remarks brief.

0:56

My name is Mark Kurzman.

0:58

I'm a longtime Stanford resident, and I have the privilege of serving as the chairman of the board of Stanford EMS.

1:05

Uh I'm joined this evening by senior staff at SEMS, Chief Edward Brown, and I believe Eddie, you have with you assistant chiefs, uh Jessica Anderson and Malcolm Dean, both of who were promoted to that position in October of 2025.

1:20

Um I'm sure um committee members, you're all familiar with SEMS, but just in brief, we are the nonprofit company that serves the community by responding 24 hours, seven days per week to thousands of requests for emergency medical assistance.

1:38

We operate out of five ambulance stations and also during peak hours, have a basic life support ambulance that operates uh mostly out of downtown.

1:48

Uh, we're also fortunate to have a complement of trained volunteers who augment our staffing, which um currently consists of roughly 82 paramedics and EMTs.

1:59

We pride ourselves on the high quality of care we deliver to the citizens of the city of Stanford and the visitors uh here to the city.

2:08

Um I'm pleased to tell you if you're not already aware that we were recently reaccredited by CAS, the commission on accreditation of ambulance services, after they performed a very robust review of our policies and procedures and vehicles and equipment.

2:24

We are one of only two ambulance services in the state of Connecticut that are uh CAS accredited.

2:31

Uh the high quality of care we deliver to the city um is uh is done in an environment of a very high call volume.

2:39

During our last fiscal year, we responded to approximately 18,500 calls, and during this fiscal year, we're on pace to exceed even that number.

2:50

Um in terms of economics, we have little control over our revenue.

2:56

Uh 50% of our uh patient mix are Medicare patients, uh and the rest are a combination of Medicaid and private insurance and a small percentage of self-pay.

3:08

But um, yeah, as I'm sure you're aware, Medicare and Medicaid rates are set by the respective government entities.

3:14

Uh, and there's not a lot of flexibility in terms of uh of the rates that are paid to us by insurance companies.

3:21

So we are reliant on the city of Stanford for at least a portion of our budget, and hope that you feel that um the city is getting good value for uh uh for that portion of the budget that that that we ask for.

3:37

Um of course our most valuable resource is our dedicated field and supervisory staff.

3:44

You're gonna be hearing from uh Chief Brown, that who's uh the senior member of our supervisory staff in a moment.

3:51

Um so uh bottom line is uh we are operating under uh you know very high volume circumstances with uh you know limited control over revenues.

4:03

We do control our expenses, but so many of our expenses are outside our control.

4:08

The average cost of a of a of a of a what we call a truck, the larger ambulances that our paramedics operate out of, is about $300,000 now, up from 200,000 just a few years ago.

4:21

Uh and obviously we need to keep our vehicles and equipment in in good shape so we're constantly rotating our fleet.

4:29

Uh and um, you know, uh subject to those restraints.

4:34

We feel like we're operating efficiently, economically, and delivering high value to the city.

4:40

So with those words, um, and and with my appreciation from hearing from us tonight, I'll turn the presentation over to Chief Brown.

4:48

Thanks, Mark.

4:49

Um, yeah, he Mark touched on a lot of the points that uh I'm gonna go over on this slide that you see before you.

4:55

Our our total funding request for this year is uh 2675192.

5:00

That accounts for about 20% of our uh operating budget, as Mark mentioned.

5:05

Uh the rest of our revenue comes from uh medical billing, patient billing, Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, and self-pay.

5:12

Um some highlights.

5:13

We did have some organizational changes during the year.

5:16

Uh we had some turnover, Jessica and Malcolm, as uh as Mark mentioned earlier, were promoted to assistant chief.

5:23

Um Bill Ackley was promoted to deputy chief, and uh we have two new captains, Randy Lilly and Dan French.

5:31

Um over the last five years, our call volume has steadily increased.

5:37

So we're up about 25% over that time period.

5:40

We were doing about 14 and a half thousand in fiscal year 2021.

5:44

Current year we're projected to do about 18,600 calls this year.

5:48

Uh we added an additional full-time ambulance in July of 2024 during the peak daytime hours to cover that call volume.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Engineering And Infrastructure██████████████████████████26%
Fiscal Sustainability██████████████████████22%
Procedural███████████████15%
Health and Human Services██████████████14%
Public Health██████6%
Environmental Protection█████5%
Public Safety█████5%
Sustainability███3%
Homelessness██2%
Summary of Proceedings

Fiscal Committee Budget Presentations - Stamford, Connecticut - March 24, 2026

The Fiscal Committee of the Board of Representatives held budget presentations on March 24, 2026, starting at 7:30 PM, in Stamford, Connecticut. Presentations covered the operating and capital budgets for several city departments and services, including Stamford EMS, Facilities Maintenance, Health and Human Services, and the Office of Public Safety, Health and Welfare. Representatives asked questions regarding call volumes, staffing, facility conditions, energy efficiency, and program expansions.

Stamford EMS Presentation

  • Mark Kurzman (Board Chairman) and Chief Edward Brown presented the SEMS budget request of $2,675,192, which constitutes about 20% of the agency's operating budget.
  • SEMS operates 5 ambulance stations, employs 82 paramedics and EMTs, and responds to approximately 18,500 calls per year (projected 18,600 in the current fiscal year), a 25% increase over five years.
  • The agency recently reaccredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS), one of only two in Connecticut.
  • Revenue is constrained by 50% Medicare patients and state-set rates; bad debt amounts to $2.4 million annually.
  • Chief Brown highlighted organizational changes (new assistant chiefs, deputy chief, captains) and the implementation of a new community resource website (Hopeline Connect).
  • Key challenges include aging vehicles (two new trucks delayed 36 months due to COVID), a trailer at Vine Road station that has outlived its usefulness, and plans for a new station in the South End at the Latham Wider Center.
  • Representatives asked questions: De La Cruz requested call data by type and zone (Brown agreed to provide); Caparelli inquired about the Vine Road location; others asked about capital budgeting, electric ambulances, and staffing changes.
  • Representative Morrison expressed appreciation for SEMS's work and quality of service.

Facilities Maintenance Presentation

  • Scott Butch, Director of Facilities and Sustainability, presented a 7% operating budget increase request driven by salaries, utilities (7.4% projected increase), and building maintenance.
  • Outlined 13 capital requests: citywide facilities lifecycle assessment, building management system ($300,000 after reduction from $650,000 requested), heating system replacement ($250,000), energy/sustainability projects (electrification of South End Fire Department, leveraging $300,000 Eversource incentives), Latham Water Center sprinkler system, plumbing/sewer replacement, roof replacement ($250,000 approved vs. $1.5 million requested), flooring, government center renovations, ADA compliance, life safety upgrades, environmental abatement ($250,000), and garage door replacements.
  • Representative Gilbert questioned the roof budget reduction and the payback of energy management system funding. Butch explained that $300,000 would allow partial completion and provide monitoring capabilities, with some energy savings.
  • Representative Pine asked about the Domus building at 83 Lockwood (to be demolished end of 2026, no further capital spending) and about efficiency criteria for old buildings. Butch said decisions are coordinated with the mayor's office and operations.
  • Representative O'Brien praised electrification efforts and encouraged deeper investment.

Health and Human Services Presentation

  • Director Jody Bishop-Pullen reported that the department achieved national public health accreditation in February 2026.
  • The department has about 90 staff; budget includes a large school nursing component and a $2.675 million contracted service line for SEMS.
  • Cold weather sheltering costs increased by $310,000 due to a rise in unhoused residents, including seniors and families.
  • Revenue sources: lab testing, dental insurance ($30,000 annually), multifamily licensing (~$2 million).
  • Proposed expansions: upgrade a part-time position to full-time to support housing services ($27,000 cost), a public health nurse for the Westover School K-8 expansion ($70,000), and an epidemiologist ($110,000 salary, 25% grant-funded) to strengthen data surveillance and outbreak response given federal public health changes.
  • Representative Graham asked about collaboration on data; Bishop-Pullen confirmed partnership with state, police, and community groups.
  • Representative Goldberg clarified that the large professional services line item is the payment to SEMS.
  • Representative De La Cruz inquired about enforcement of plastic ordinances and education; Bishop-Pullen said that inspections and licensing include educational information, but formal education program funding is not a separate line item. Representative Caparelli added that current staff are developing a website for this purpose.

Office of Public Safety, Health and Welfare Presentation

  • Lou, Director of Public Safety (former assistant police chief), presented the office's mission 'proactively enhance' and its organizational structure.
  • The office oversees Police, 911 Communications, Fire, Emergency Management, Health and Human Services, and Stamford EMS (SEMS), which is a contracted service costing $2.6 million annually (20% of SEMS operating budget).
  • Direct staff includes an administrative officer, a statistician, and a chief enforcement officer with two part-time citation officers.
  • The presentation covered 2025 highlights and 2026-27 goals and priorities; the transcript ended before completion, and no questions were recorded.

Key Outcomes

  • The committee heard detailed budget presentations from all four departments.
  • No formal votes or decisions were recorded; the presentations inform the committee's budget deliberations.
  • SEMS agreed to provide additional call data to representatives.
  • The presentations will contribute to the development of the city's upcoming budget.

Meeting Transcript

All right, it is now 730 officially. Good evening, everyone. This is the fiscal committee of the board of representatives. Budget presentations. And we're going to start out of order a little bit tonight. Stafford EMS is going to present first. And I have Eddie Brown and Mark Kersman here. Which of you would like to start? I'll make a few introductory remarks and then turn it over to Eddie if that's okay. That's fine. And do you need to present? Beg your pardon? Do you need to make a present? Do you need to present anything? Like uh slides or budget, something like that. I Eddie, I think you have control over any slides, right? Yeah, yeah. Those are the slides we sent in. So um well, good evening, everybody. I'll uh right. I'll I'll keep my remarks brief. My name is Mark Kurzman. I'm a longtime Stanford resident, and I have the privilege of serving as the chairman of the board of Stanford EMS. Uh I'm joined this evening by senior staff at SEMS, Chief Edward Brown, and I believe Eddie, you have with you assistant chiefs, uh Jessica Anderson and Malcolm Dean, both of who were promoted to that position in October of 2025. Um I'm sure um committee members, you're all familiar with SEMS, but just in brief, we are the nonprofit company that serves the community by responding 24 hours, seven days per week to thousands of requests for emergency medical assistance. We operate out of five ambulance stations and also during peak hours, have a basic life support ambulance that operates uh mostly out of downtown. Uh, we're also fortunate to have a complement of trained volunteers who augment our staffing, which um currently consists of roughly 82 paramedics and EMTs. We pride ourselves on the high quality of care we deliver to the citizens of the city of Stanford and the visitors uh here to the city. Um I'm pleased to tell you if you're not already aware that we were recently reaccredited by CAS, the commission on accreditation of ambulance services, after they performed a very robust review of our policies and procedures and vehicles and equipment. We are one of only two ambulance services in the state of Connecticut that are uh CAS accredited. Uh the high quality of care we deliver to the city um is uh is done in an environment of a very high call volume. During our last fiscal year, we responded to approximately 18,500 calls, and during this fiscal year, we're on pace to exceed even that number. Um in terms of economics, we have little control over our revenue. Uh 50% of our uh patient mix are Medicare patients, uh and the rest are a combination of Medicaid and private insurance and a small percentage of self-pay. But um, yeah, as I'm sure you're aware, Medicare and Medicaid rates are set by the respective government entities. Uh, and there's not a lot of flexibility in terms of uh of the rates that are paid to us by insurance companies. So we are reliant on the city of Stanford for at least a portion of our budget, and hope that you feel that um the city is getting good value for uh uh for that portion of the budget that that that we ask for. Um of course our most valuable resource is our dedicated field and supervisory staff. You're gonna be hearing from uh Chief Brown, that who's uh the senior member of our supervisory staff in a moment. Um so uh bottom line is uh we are operating under uh you know very high volume circumstances with uh you know limited control over revenues. We do control our expenses, but so many of our expenses are outside our control. The average cost of a of a of a of a what we call a truck, the larger ambulances that our paramedics operate out of, is about $300,000 now, up from 200,000 just a few years ago. Uh and obviously we need to keep our vehicles and equipment in in good shape so we're constantly rotating our fleet. Uh and um, you know, uh subject to those restraints. We feel like we're operating efficiently, economically, and delivering high value to the city. So with those words, um, and and with my appreciation from hearing from us tonight, I'll turn the presentation over to Chief Brown. Thanks, Mark. Um, yeah, he Mark touched on a lot of the points that uh I'm gonna go over on this slide that you see before you. Our our total funding request for this year is uh 2675192. That accounts for about 20% of our uh operating budget, as Mark mentioned.

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