Boston Council panel reviews $1.27M EMS contract funding new mobile health program

BOSTON — July 17, 2023 — Boston City Council panel hears testimony on $1.27 million in EMS contract funding and a sweeping new mobile health program. The Committee on City Services and Innovation Technology, chaired by District 4 Councilor Brian Worrell, reviewed Dockets 1097 and 1098, which together shift $1,273,531 from the city's collective bargaining reserve to the Boston Public Health Commission to cover wage increases negotiated with the Boston EMS Division of the Boston Patrolmen's Association for the periods 2021-2023 and 2023-2026. Budget Director Jim Williamson said the FY23 collective bargaining reserve, originally set at $75 million, will finish the year at roughly $34 million after the transfer. EMS Chief Jim Hooley told the panel the department has only 60 to 69 percent of its 428 authorized uniformed positions filled, with 58 current vacancies, and that applicants for its next hiring exam — 75 so far — are running about double the prior cycle, aided by a three-year suspension of city residency compliance requirements. Union president Matt Anderson called the contract "a start to something bigger," while union secretary Nicholas Mutter warned that mandatory overtime is already on pace to shatter last year's record, with members forced into 16-hour double shifts as often as twice a month.