There won’t be a tax district for an ambulance service in Rotterdam anytime soon.
Election season may have passed, but Rotterdam residents were once again drawn to voting booths Wednesday, Dec. 14. Election signs littered main roads in the town, and there was even a billboard urging taxpayers to vote down the proposal, which they did 2,472-to-1,386.
Taxpayers flooded the single Town Hall polling location from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., where they voted against creating the tax district. There were no absentee ballots allowed in the vote.
[Voter turnout] was higher than both what the Board of Elections expected as well as what the administration expected, said Town Attorney Joseph Liccardi.
Supervisor Frank Del Gallo’s letter to residents about the vote dated Nov. 22 stressed the vote is not for a specific ambulance, but previously he said if the resolution is passed the taxing district would go to Rotterdam Emergency Medical Services. The town’s 2011 budget removed all funding for REMS.
The special taxing district was estimated to cost taxpayers 10 cents per every $1,000 of assessed property value, which the letter from Del Gallo said was based on an analysis done in August 2009. According to the town’s 2009 Tax Roll Summary of the total assessed property in the town at $2,416,329,490, REMS would have acquired $232,527.92 of revenue.
There were a few hiccups during the voting process where some residents were confused about their eligibility to vote, or tax records didn’t seem to match up at first with what election workers were provided.
`Many people whose property was in trust had difficulty with the concept that the trust voted for the property and the trust voted through a trustee,` said Liccardi after the vote. `There was also some occasional situations where the (tax) roll books were incorrect, but we were able to very promptly resolve that by going down to the assessor’s office and pulling out the file on the property.`
Anyone who owned property in the town was eligible to vote and if and co-owners of a property were each allowed to vote. Also, corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies and estates were allowed one vote through a designated agent. Any person or entity that owned more than one property was only allowed to vote once.
It is currently unclear if Mohawk Ambulance would become the main ambulance service for the town, but Frank Salamone, attorney for REMS, said even without the tax district REMS has no plans to dissolve.
`We obviously thank everyone for the support we have gotten,` said Salamone `We are still the ambulance provider in the Town of Rotterdam. We think that this was a vote about the economic times and not a vote on REMS. In these economic times asking people to raise their taxes is a difficult thing to do.`
Salamone restated that the tax district funding would have been used for capital improvements such as replacing and repairing service equipment and ambulances.
When Salamone was asked how REMS would be funded he said he was not prepared to comment on the issue yet, but said there have been discussions and REMS believe they will be able to survive.
Tom Nardacci, spokesman for Mohawk Ambulance Service, said the vote has shown residents won’t support additional taxing for a service that it can get from the company without taxes.
`The voters of Rotterdam sent a strong message tonight, that they do not want to be taxed for a service they can get for free,` said Tom Nardcci, spokesman for Mohawk Ambulance Service, in a statement after the vote. `The proposal Mohawk Ambulance made to the Town would ensure that Rotterdam residents receive high quality and reliable ambulance service without a new tax.“
Rotterdam taxpayers vote down proposal, REMS future unclear