Pharr city manager discusses ambulance service, new budget
Three weeks ago, The Advance published a story about Pharr City Manager Jonathan Flores, hired last year as the city’s top administrator.
In that Aug. 7 story, we promised to follow up because our interview was too long to fit into one story, which included news about the city’s ambulance service and its budget for Fiscal Year 2025.
Here then is the balance of that interview.
The ambulance story, by the way, was big news three years ago when Pharr paid roughly $1 million to buy what was left of Hidalgo County EMS (its assets), then floundering in a U.S. Bankruptcy court, its owner and a handful of former employees facing criminal charges related to alleged fraud.
After the purchase of the bankrupt Hidalgo County EMS, Pharr changed its name to Pharr EMS in May 2021, and Mayor Amos Hernandez, MD, released a press release, which read in part:
“We are proud to celebrate the launch of the Pharr EMS Headquarters and welcome our newest city department. Pharr EMS will enhance our public safety and medical efforts throughout the city, providing faster and life-saving response times to our citizens.”
The subsequent year, however, wasn’t without its fair share of challenges. The days of ambulance services providing emergency care to public entities for zero subsidies, for example, was no longer feasible.
In other words, an ambulance provider offers emergency medical services (EMS) to a city, county precinct, or another public entity, for free, operating off what it gets in return from insurance providers, Medicare, Medicaid, private pay; but with so much of the Hidalgo County population without insurance of any kind, no government back-up, state or federal, too many ambulance calls receive no return for services. Call it a loss-leader.
On Aug. 22 of 2022, the city of Pharr sent a letter to Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez, advising him that unless the county was willing pay a subsidy to Pharr EMS for the provision of emergency services, the (interlocal) agreement between the two entities would end in 30 days’ time.
The area of service in question was Hidalgo County Precinct 3, which covers the western part of the county. A follow-up letter would also later include the Delta region as well, near the county’s eastern fringe.
The county said it couldn’t come up with the approximate $1.7-million subsidy requested in such short notice, so the two entities broke ranks, and the county contracted with another company as a stop-gap measure.
Then questions started surfacing in the fall of 2022 about the financial health of Pharr EMS. Had it lost money that fiscal year, and if so, how much?
No matter, the Pharr mayor reassured city residents, Pharr will never be without EMS, which was one reason, he said, the city paid to buy up what was left of Hidalgo County EMS (no relation to the county).
In the meantime, Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez said that even without Pharr EMS covering those two areas of the county, no one within Hidalgo County would be without EMS service. The county had already made provisions, and so it had.
Then came news in the fall of 2022 that the City of Pharr was laying off approximately 40 Pharr EMS employees following the termination of the interlocal agreement it had with the county.
In response to that news, then-Pharr Deputy City Manager Ed Wylie had this to say:
“In the EMS world, reducing staff is an unfortunate side effect of not having enough contracts for service. The city of Pharr regrettably has to reduce staff in the new budget year to coincide with the loss of the (two county) contracts. It is in no way reflective of the ability of our medics or the quality of service they gave the public.”
So after a year as Pharr’s city manager, both interim and full-time, Jonathan Flores brings us up to speed on Pharr EMS and this coming year’s city budget, all of which he says looks very promising:
Advance News Journal (ANJ): Two to three years ago, the idea of a city funding its own ambulance (EMS) service was a relatively hot topic of debate.
So, given that bit of history, can you tell us, has the investment panned out, what’s the rate of return on that in terms of how much time will go by before the $1 million paid for it is recovered?
Pharr CM Jonathan Flores: “Right now we’re at a break-even point with our (EMS service), which is a good thing.
“Our expectation is that we are going to provide the essential EMS service to our residents, just like we do with police and fire. We are going to provide that essential service and make sure that our community has the best trained personnel, that they have the best equipment on the ambulances, the best fleet vehicles that we can have, and that our response times are second to none. Those are the things that we’re committed to controlling.
“If we make revenue off it, great. That helps the city out during budget season. If we don’t, we’re still providing the best service to the community, and that’s what is important to our elected officials, and that’s what is important to me as the city manager.”
ANJ: Please speak to next year’s fiscal budget. What’s new with regard to that?
Pharr CM Jonathan Flores: “We’re looking at all the numbers. It’s going very well. As it pertains to city services, our elected officials have it tough, though, because the community wants high-level services, but then we have to find a way to pay for them. In other words, being able to articulate that those funds have to come from somewhere presents a problem.
“If we propose raising the tax rate, it’s not met kindly. If, however, those city services aren’t rendered, well, then that’s also an issue. So something has got to give. Our mayor and commission being the visionary leaders that they are recognize this, which is why you see investments in ventures such as Team Pharr.Net that not only provides an exceptional service to our community, but also adds additional non-traditional revenue streams for our city. As such, we are happy to report that no tax increase is being proposed this year.
“Again, it’s my job to make sure that we look at the big picture, that we’re being good stewards of our budget, and that we are providing the best services that we can with what we have.
“We, meaning the entire city staff and me, have to make good recommendations to the mayor and commission. Then ultimately they are the ones that will decide on those big policy decisions. What I can tell you is that our mayor and commission are wholeheartedly committed to the community. They are exceptional leaders.
“Over the past year, I’ve had a wonderful time on the job, been very transparent and open with the mayor and commission. They’ve provided me with the autonomy that I’ve needed to lead this organization, and I’m very communicative with them about recommendations and the things that I see; and then they decide.
“I am excited for the future. I want to be here for a long time. This is my hometown. All my family’s from Pharr. My wife’s family is from Pharr. We're all from here, we're embedded in the Pharr community in the PSJA area.”
ANJ: You take a look around the Valley these days, the state, the country, and you see stories of public officials pop up in trouble for something or another, and it usually has to do with ethics or a lack thereof.
Someone told us that Pharr has created a new department that has to do with that very topic. Ethics. Can you speak to that?
Pharr CM Jonathan Flores: “The city has created the Office of Professional and Ethical Standards. My thinking was, let’s bring in an individual such as Jimmy Lugo who comes from the federal system, and actually retired from it, so he’s well-equipped to address that very issue — professional ethics.
“To be able to ensure that we as city stewards are operating as ethically as possible as an organization is so important to me as the city manager — that we are transparent at all times.
“Mr. Lugo’s role is to educate our staff and then take a look at the disciplinary actions that happen throughout any organization.
“I wanted to be proactive about it and create an office that was not only going to respond to the more egregious offenses that may occur in any public organization, but also have in place someone was is going to go out there and look at what our top-10 offenses may be for any given month as they pertain to policy violations and disciplinary issues.
“The Office of Professional and Ethical Standards will go out and provide training and education to staff, to directors and assistant directors, and give them pointers on how to mitigate these issues in a proactive way.
“As such, we have seen a decrease in (ethical) incidents since Mr. Lugo’s time here as the director of this new department. He does that, as well as some risk management tasks.
“It has been a phenomenal addition to the city. We’ve seen such success with it. and we’ve seen a lower prevalence of disciplinary issues because we’re taking a stance against these types of ethical concerns before they manifest as a real concern.
“Do they still happen? Sometimes, sure. We’re a large organization with 798 employees, but we have seen a reduction in that since this office has been created.”
ANJ: Since you were hired as Pharr city manager, you have created another new department as well. Can you speak to that for a moment?
Pharr CM Jonathan Flores: “Sure, let me touch on the other position that we created, which is an industrial business development manager.
“What we did there was bring in an individual by the name of Juan Vasquez who now serves as a liaison between people who are coming in to do business in the City of Pharr or people who are coming to do construction in the city.
“When those new to the city have to go through the permitting process or deal with development service, we created this new liaison position who pretty much walks them through the process and makes sure that they have a good experience while navigating through these complex and time-consuming issues, which now take less time. Actually, that position has been invaluable to the city. Juan does a fantastic job in his role, and we have received numerous compliments on his performance.
“It’s unique, and I’ve talked to some of the other cities, and they’re like, man, we need to do something like that because it really does streamline the process.
“We’ve received positive feedback from developers who come to do business, and they tell us, ‘We had such a great experience because we had a point of contact that was dedicated to us. The city got us through all the red tape that goes into those processes.’ So we’re excited about how that’s proven to be such a success.”
ANJ: So going into next year, just in terms of round numbers, what's the budget look like?
Pharr CM Jonathan Flores: “We are looking at anywhere between $270 million to $300 million. That’s what we’re looking at it. We’re still crunching numbers so I’m telling you kind of a very wide ballpark of where we are at.
“Specifically, we’re not there yet. I know the last number I think was, overall, at approximately $272 million.”