KENT COUNTY, Del. - Kent County officials are proposing to scale back enhanced sign-on bonuses for paramedics after seeing significant improvements in staffing levels across the county's emergency medical services system.
The proposal comes less than a year after county leaders approved an enhanced recruitment incentive program aimed at addressing a critical shortage of paramedics.
At the time, the Division of Emergency Medical Services had 12 vacant full-time paramedic positions and was preparing to open two new EMS stations, creating concerns about staffing and operational readiness.
Since then, county officials say aggressive recruitment efforts, employee retention initiatives and a growing paramedic trainee program have helped turn the situation around.
The staffing improvements are especially important as communities like Milford continue to grow and place greater demands on emergency services.
"We look to be pretty close to around 6,000 calls this year, which is up from 3,300 in 2020," said Chris Clough, EMS supervisor with Carlisle Fire Company in Milford.
Clough said the increasing call volume means additional personnel will likely be needed in the future.
"At a given time during the week, we have six people, usually four 24 hours a day and two more. It's not going to be long before we have to make that eight people or even more so that's just growing day and day," Clough said.
To address staffing shortages countywide, Kent County doubled sign-on bonus incentives for paramedics in 2025. Under the enhanced program, fully certified paramedics with three to five years of experience could receive up to $10,000 in recruitment incentives, compared to $5,000 under the original program.
According to county officials, the effort has produced results.
Since the enhanced incentive program was approved, Kent County EMS has added six new authorized paramedic positions while reducing vacancies from 12 to five. Officials say those gains allowed the county to fully staff and open two new EMS stations while maintaining service levels.
Chief John Tinger, with the Kent County Department of Public Safety, said the county is now in a position to return to the original bonus structure.
"One of the strategies was to increase our sign-on bonus," Tinger said. "So also being fiscally responsible now that we're no longer in the crisis, we're asking the commissioners to return to our original signing bonus. So we're not getting rid of signing bonuses. We're just reducing the number of that."
Officials also credit the county's paramedic trainee program and its partnership with Delaware Technical Community College for helping create a pipeline of future EMS workers.
Deputy Chief Justin Conrad said the county's efforts extended beyond financial incentives.
"We have addressed a lot of those issues with the union, with rank restructure and all of that as well as the sign-on bonus," Conrad said. "We've kind of addressed some of those things and just changing the culture in general. We've been very successful with that, and it's still a work in progress."
If approved, the proposal would return the county's paramedic sign-on bonus program to its original structure beginning July 1. County officials say the move reflects improved workforce conditions while still maintaining incentives to attract future recruits.
