At the Wednesday, Aug. 12, Town Board meeting, the Town of Rotterdam laid out its final plans for establishing a special taxing district to continue working with medical services provider Rotterdam EMS.
Public review will take place Wednesday, Sept. 9, at which point town officials will vote on the proposal.
The plan would make REMS the primary EMS-ambulance provider for the town. The town is currently contracting with REMS for ambulance services and would establish a special assessment to provide funding for the service. The assessment will be based on property values throughout the town.
We will ensure, contrary to many national leaders’ comments on the subject of paramedics and EMS, that Rotterdam is paying attention to our people’s needs and will not allow our own system to deteriorate and try to reverse the damage later, said Rotterdam Town Supervisor Steve Tommasone in an e-mail.
Tommasone added that he wanted to make sure the town and REMS leadership has the resources to provide service `for decades to come.`
At the beginning of this year, there was some debate in town about whether to contract with the privately owned Mohawk Ambulance for emergency services or continue to contract with the government-funded Rotterdam EMS. Staying with REMS involved the creation of a new taxing district, similar to ones used for the fire department and other public safety departments, while receiving services from Mohawk Ambulance Service would have no impact on taxpayers.
If the plan is rejected next month, going with Mohawk Ambulance is still a possibility.
`What I can say is that what was proposed last fall is still something that is a viable option for the town to consider,` said Tom Nardacci, a spokesman for Mohawk Ambulance. `Mohawk is definitely interested in servicing Rotterdam because Mohawk’s base of operation is right there.`
After debating its options, the Town Board voted in February to fund its own EMS operation.
`There is no free ride,` said Tommasone of the decision via e-mail. `It always looks great on paper, and the sound bites are inviting too. But ultimately, you can’t restart an EMS system and expect the cost to be lower than what it is today if the privates go out of business or demand funding themselves in the future as it would be tremendously cost-prohibitive to rebuild the system we have today.`
Under the proposal to be voted on in September, REMS will provide services to all properties located within the current municipal boundaries, and would serve approximately 28,316 people.
Currently, REMS obtains revenue through a combination of fees and local tax revenue. According to the report presented Aug. 12, the total estimated income for REMS in 2010 will be approximately $425,536. The town will provide the remaining revenue for the service, which will be approximately $232,528. However, the cost is subject to negotiation and can be amended by the town as long as it is in accordance with the contract. According to the 2009 Tax Roll Summary, the total assessed value of the property in the Town is approximately $2,416,329,490. Based on the annual cost of running REMS, a 10 cent per $1,000 rate will be established, meaning that a typical cost for a single family home that cost $165,000, for example, would cost $16.50 per year.
Joe VanDerwerker, president of REMS, was unavailable for comment.“