MEVAC needs your help

12/22/2022

By Patsy Nicosia

If you’re one of the people walking around because of MEVAC, now’s the time to return the favor.
Stuck at an impasse with the Town of Middleburgh over their next two-year contract, MEVAC is hoping for a show of support at the town’s year-end meeting next Thursday.
“The community has to come out and support us,” MEVAC’s Wes Andrew said Monday as volunteers made their case to about two dozen residents.
“We’ve answered their calls. They need to answer ours.
The year-end meeting is set for 7pm Thursday, December 29 at the Community Center.
Following the meeting, MEVAC expects to go into closed, executive session with Supervisor Wes Laraway and councilmen, where they’ll make their final offer:
A request for a one-year contract with a five percent funding increase from the town.
That five percent is already in the town’s adopted 2023 budget, however after seven months of failed negotiations, there’s still no signed contract.
That five percent represents an increase of just $1,900, Mr. Andrew said, and would bring the town’s MEVAC funding from $38,288 to $40,202, far, far below what nearby rescue squads get from their communities, said MEVAC’s Sigrid Wood.
The four other towns that contract with MEVAC have already signed contracts agreeing to the five percent increase.
In May, Ms. Wood said, they asked the town for a 15 percent increase.
Not only was it “flatly turned down,” she said, but the town turned around and asked for $800 a year to help with higher-than-expected expenses for things like heating and electricity at the Community Center.
MEVAC counter-offered with contributing $200 a month—a figure based on twice the costs of fuel oil at the old ambulance barn—and a five percent increase in funding.
“They rejected that as well,” Ms. Wood said. “They came back with $500 a month and no increase. That’s where we left it.”
If 15 percent sounds like a lot, it is, Mr. Andrew said. But after 53 years, they’re not sure they can go on without it; equipment costs alone are up 17 percent since the fall.
Ms. Wood said SchoWright, which serves the Towns of Schoharie and Wright, asked for and got a $6,000 increase for 2023; Duanesburg now pays the Esperance Rescue Squad, which covers a “sliver” of their territory $102,000 a year; and Prattsville pays $120,000 to the Ashland Rescue Squad.
“We did our homework and discovered we are greatly under-funded,” she said.
Mike Hartzel, Schoharie County director of Emergency Services, said despite rumors, he has no “grand” plans of taking over MEVAC’s coverage with a county ambulance—nor could anyone afford it: Even without payroll, it would cost $300,000 a year.
“We’re designed as backup when you need us,” he said. “I can’t put my third ambulance here. It wouldn’t be fair to the 15 other towns.”
Mr. Hartzel said the town’s funding comes out to about $50 a call.
“How can you put gas in your ambulances and get supplies for that?” he asked. “How do you stay in service?”
MEVAC Treasurer Tracy Pierce accused Mr. Laraway of trying to balance the town’s budget “on the backs of MEVAC”; former Supervisor Jim Buzon said having an ambulance service at the Community Center—an emergency shelter—should be seen as a big plus.
Between the $6,000 the town wants from MEVAC for building expenses and no increase, the squad is looking at a $8,000 loss, Mr. Andrew said.
“The numbers don’t work anymore. Now we’re being asked to take less. If something happens and MEVAC goes away, the cost to bring it back would be insurmountable.”