Wassaic (Dutchess County) Residents "Shocked" By New Ambulance Tax

[ProudImmortal 0]

Wassaic Taxpayers Shocked at New Ambulance Tax

Fire District being investigated by State Comptrollers Office

by Tonia Shoumatoff

Sat Jan 16th, 2016

At the Fire Commissioners meeting at the Wassaic Fire House on January 14, confused residents came out to find out why their taxes are jumping astronomically and what they will be getting for it. The increase of the Fire Department Tax is 171.7% due to a new contract for free 24-hour ambulance services with on-call paramedics. It only covers the Wassaic Fire District, roughly the lower half of Amenia.

http://themillbrookindependent.com/content/wassaic-taxpayers-shocked-new-ambulance-tax

[N1Medic 69]

Looks like this district stepped up and did the right thing when no one else in the Town wanted to do anything.

[EMT111 149]

Out of curiosity, why did they decide to go with full time ALS coverage? It sounds like they're a BLS agency, and two EMTs is alot cheaper then two medics.

[GreatPlains588 131]

They had a public meeting on the proposed budget and the EMS increase in OCTOBER!

http://www.wassaicbluecrew.com/firedistrict.htm

Fire Districts can not bill by NYS state law, so now the taxpayers will foot the cost.

[STAT213 332]

I think one thing that this points out is how little people know about fire districts and how they work.

People expect that town government and services are integrated. A separate entity making its own decisions can be hard at accept.

People also don't like surprises.

[Rjsii1432 7]

It's good to see districts taking steps to get ambulances out in their coverage areas quickly and with a high level of care. I think we are all tired of hearing some smaller rescue squads with limited resources going 3-4 dispatches and having mutual aid or a commercial service coming from far away. Thats not fair to the patient. The problem is the cost of these services. The commercial companies see their expenses rising and their payments from Medicare, Medicaid, etc being reduced, and some commercial agencies are finding themselves with financial issues as well. Therefore the low ball contracts of the past for a company to get their foot in the door in that jurisdiction are going away. The all volume needs to be there otherwise they are going to charge the jurisdiction a higher contract fee to cover their overhead that they are not making up for through billing. The key points of the article really are these towns and districts need to look at pooling their resources and getting the best coverage at the best price - not necessarily a paid Als Amb in every town or district but some combination of paid Als and bls to cover the call volume. And the public needs to be informed. Even if well-intentioned and in the best interest of their residents' health and safety, a huge tax increase like that is going to cause a backlash. Best to get the public on board and choose the best option to get them a timely and appropriately trained ambulance crew at the best price for the taxpayer

[Gomer 25]

Do any ambulance agencies in the area have an ambulance tax?