At the Aug. 14 Selma City Council meeting, council approved an additional 35% in contributions to Schertz EMS for the 2025-26 fiscal year. Both FY 2026-27 and FY 2027-28 will have 5% funding increases.
Selma contributed $213,095.76 to Schertz EMS during FY 2024-25. The 35%, 5%, 5% option chosen by council will see funding rise $104,070.64 by the end of the EMS contract in FY 27-28.
In a nutshell
Schertz EMS provides emergency medical on-call service and transports to the cities of Northeast San Antonio, such as Selma, Schertz, Cibolo, Universal City and Live Oak.
All five cities amended interlocal agreements with the organization this summer. Selma and Schertz chose the option of 35%, 5% and 5% increases; while Cibolo, Universal City and Live Oak chose an option of 20%, 20% and 5% increases.
According to a presentation sent to partner cities by Schertz EMS Director Jason Mabbitt, the average response time to a call in Selma is 8.5 minutes.
Offering input
Mabbitt sent a presentation to partner cities laying out reasoning for the amendments. He said employee pay and additional staffing, coupled with inflationary costs and bad debt, have put the organization at a cash shortfall.
The estimated FY 24-25 shortfall for the organization is $300,879.
Selma Mayor Tom Daly said that although he appreciates the services of Schertz EMS, he doesn’t enjoy frequent agreement amendments.
“Hopefully, [you] have these plans to take care of all those situations with your trucks, with [employee] pay increases, with the burden of people not paying,” Daly said.
