Mecklenburg will keep paying fire departments as MEDIC contract deadlines loom
Mecklenburg County will continue to provide funding to Charlotte-area fire departments, but other questions remain about contracts with the region’s emergency medical services agency.
Leaders from every municipality in the county gathered Wednesday for a meeting to sort through ongoing contract disputes about who responds to emergency calls. Some contracts are set to expire this summer.
The Mecklenburg EMS Agency, known as MEDIC, leads emergency medical services in the county. But area fire departments also respond to tens of thousands of medical calls every year under decades-old agreements. MEDIC has been negotiating new deals with Charlotte, Huntersville and Cornelius for months.
A key sticking point: whether the county should continue to provide money to fire departments. MEDIC leadership previously called the current funding set-up outdated, while some fire officials said losing that money could create “significant” issues.
At Wednesday’s meeting, County Manager Dena Diorio affirmed her budget for the new fiscal year that starts July 1 will maintain current funding levels.
“We don’t have any intention of cutting that, but there’s no additional dollars being appropriated for an increase in subsidy,” she said.
Officials also discussed requests for an outside study of first responder services and for more detailed data on EMS response times.
How MEDIC and fire departments work together
Fire departments are “by design” typically first on scene in an emergency with crews that can provide “immediate basic life support,” MEDIC executive director John Peterson told Mecklenburg County commissioners during an April 15 presentation.
The Charlotte Fire Department responded to about 80,000 medical calls in fiscal year 2024 according to the presentation. And other Mecklenburg fire departments responded to an additional 17,161 EMS calls during the same time period.
“Area fire departments have served as an integral part of Mecklenburg County’s EMS system for many years,” Peterson said April 15. “Their role as first responders is critical to our overall system design and performance.”
Fire departments help especially with less serious calls that may not require transport to a hospital by ambulance and with sudden cardiac arrest calls, Peterson said.
MEDIC’s current contract with Charlotte Fire expires July 5. Huntersville’s deal expires July 7, and Cornelius’s contract expires Aug. 15.
The contracts date back to the mid-1990s and included provisions that the county, through MEDIC, provide money to the fire departments for EMS work, medical supplies and equipment.
Contract disputes over funding, service
That money is one of the key issues between MEDIC and the fire departments.
MEDIC says the funding structure dates back to a time when most fire departments were volunteer-based and couldn’t collect tax dollars to support their work. Now, affected departments are part of their respective municipal governments and have other funding sources.
Despite this, according to Peterson, Charlotte and Huntersville want more money. No other North Carolina counties use the same system, Peterson says.
But Charlotte Fire says losing county money “raises significant operational, legal, and financial questions” for “all fire departments providing EMS first responder services in our community.”
“Charlotte Fire and our town fire department partners have a long-standing history of providing exceptional EMS care to the residents and visitors of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County,” Fire Chief Reginald Johnson said in a statement to The Charlotte Observer “We remain committed to working through this process in a professional and responsible way, ensuring that the emergency response system in Mecklenburg County is both sustainable and properly
But it’s more than money: multiple fire departments want to see MEDIC increase staffing and provide more detailed data on response times. The departments want to respond to fewer non-emergency calls, especially during major events and severe weather, according to MEDIC.
Mecklenburg’s northern towns — Huntersville, Davidson and Cornelius — want dedicated ambulances in their region.
Mecklenburg leaders discuss MEDIC
Elected officials on Wednesda praised Diorio for confirming the existing subsidy will continue into the next budget cycle.
“It’s not a lot of money for any of us, but I think a lot of this is principle and in reparation for some of the expenses incurred by our various departments in calls for service,” Davidson Mayor Rusty Knox said.
Town leaders pushed back on the notion the funding is “double taxation” on residents and that firefighters would have more downtime on the job if not responding to as many medical calls.
“There is plenty for them to do,” Matthews Manager Becky Hawke said.
Town and city leaders also implored county commissioners and MEDIC to support a third-party study of the agency and emergency services. They said outside perspectives could uncover ways to improve service.
“There’s lots of good solutions out there,” Cornelius Mayor Woody Washam said. “Now’s the time to get it right.”
County Commission Chair Mark Jerrell said the board will discuss a potential study.
Members of MEDIC leadership also said they’re willing to look into releasing more granular data on response times across the county. Currently, the agency provides data for “zones,” but some elected officials want to see the data broken down by municipality or ZIP codes.
Town leaders say they’ve heard complaints from constituents about response times in their communities.
“I certainly don’t condone this by any means, but we are experiencing feedback from some citizens saying that, ‘Well, you know, when I call 911, I’m just going to tell them I’m having a massive heart attack,’” Washam said.
Mayors also said they’re concerned fire crews won’t be able to respond quickly to fires if they’re tied up on medical calls. Peterson acknowledged that can happen but said partnerships between area fire departments fill gaps.
He also noted MEDIC has made progress filling COVID pandemic-era staffing shortages and plan to add more ambulances in the 2025-2026 budget year.
Still, city and town leaders said they need new agreements signed before contracts start to expire.
“We still believe that we need to have either a (memorandum of understanding) or a contract in place by the first of July,” Charlotte assistant city manager Shawn Heath said. “So I would suggest that’s still a priority for us, recognizing that that could be modified in light of the potential for a study and in light of the potential for longer term conversations around the subsidy.”
This story was originally published April 23, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
