Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/privatization/)
A showdown over how the county provides firefighters at John Wayne Airport is becoming another skirmish in the escalating battle over whether county emergency response services should remain largely public or privatized.
Officials say that in two cases the stadium’s private ambulance service improperly transported fans with serious injuries.
Orange County officials, in their recent push to introduce private paramedics, have turned to ambulance firms of years of labor violations and financial difficulties, records show.
The panel wants to wait for closer examination of a death, among other issues.
Officials in the Bay Area county were surprised to find that the contractor for paramedic services was $9.5 million in the red.
For the first time, private paramedics were deployed last week in Orange County to transfer patients between health facilities.
Under the current proposal, supervisors would extend their existing agreement with the Orange County Fire Authority for another year.
County Board of Supervisors authorized the first step toward a $5-million outsourcing contract.
Public forum today on the need for budget cuts is likely to draw
questions about the city’s approach to numbers.