By Brian Hubert
Daily Freeman
KINGSTON, N.Y. — The city’s comptroller expects revenues collected from insurers for the city-run ambulance service this year to exceed the $1.5 million budgeted for in the 2025 approved budget, possibly reaching $1.9 million by year’s end.
City Comptroller John Tuey told the Common Council’s Finance and Audit Committee on Wednesday, Sept. 10, that revenues collected from billing private insurers and Medicare and Medicaid for the Fire Department’s ambulance service averaged $160,000 over the past four months. That included $200,000 in the most recent month, he added. Revenues could reach $1.9 million by the end of this year and $2 million in 2026, according to Tuey.
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Medicaid cuts by the Trump Administration are not expected to have a significant impact in either 2026 or 2027, he said. That said, Tuey cautioned that he tries to temper his budget expectations, as he doesn’t want there to be a situation where he budgets too optimistically, only for revenues to come in under expectations.
“I’m skeptically optimistic,” he said.
He also cautioned lawmakers that the ambulance service has experienced financial pressures from significant amounts of overtime.
Tuey emphasized that costs remain favorable to the city, as opposed to contracting out to a private provider, and the city is also receiving a higher quality service at the same time.
The city took over ambulance service from private provider Empress EMS at the beginning of 2024.
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