RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney requested an independent, third-party review of the Richmond Ambulance Authority (RAA), less than one week after the organization asked for $3.5 million more than what was allocated in the Mayor’s proposed budget.
Stoney’s request was sent to City Council members on Monday, April 25, saying that a closer look into the RAA was needed, “After 30 years of operating, now is the time to review how we provide emergency ambulatory care.”
The letter to City Council cited a changed post-COVID-19 “new world” as one of the reasons for the review.
“We must adapt to meet the expectations of our residents in a post-Covid-19 environment,” Stoney said.
Stoney continues on to say that his administration has had concerns over the RAA’s budget since 2022, and, “The administration’s apprehension continues to grow given RAA’s considerable proposed funding increase without supporting data.”
The letter stated that with the City’s new approach to working with community partners, Richmond will be “establishing clear performance expectations and targets.” Stoney said while RAA transports, response times, collections and personnel expenditures have decreased, the request for city funding has increased –raising questions with the administration.
A spokesperson for Richmond Ambulance Authority said the organization looks forward to working with the City, is happy to provide any data justifying their $3.5 million request.
“RAA has had productive conversations with City leaders about a path forward which we believe will help the agency in its mission to deliver high quality patient care in a timely manner,” said Mark Tenia, Public Relations/Media Manager for RAA. “We have provided and will continue to provide data justifying our subsidy request. We look forward to continuing our conversations with City Council and the City’s Administration. We welcome any opportunity to provide a clearer picture of how we operate, and why we’ve been nationally and internationally recognized for our approach to EMS.”
This report was written with additional reporting by 8News reporter Ben Dennis.
