New solutions for municipal services

Tuxedo, NY, 1956

As awareness of economic reality belatedly sweeps the Empire State, every government service must make its case for continued taxpayer funding.  A case in point is provided by local "volunteer"ambulance services.

When smiling donors posed for the above photo in 1956, an ambulance was not much more than a horizontal taxi designed to rush victims to the emergency room.  Beyond basic first aid, little care could be provided at the scene.  While hospitals and funeral homes often provided ambulances to transport city residents, remote areas had to fend for themselves.  As suburbs grew, locals began to purchase their own ambulances, which could be staffed by volunteers who sprinted from their farm, factory, or storefront when called to an emergency.  

Inside a modern ambulance

Fast forward to 2011.  Medical technology has improved to the point where the ambulance has become a mobile extension of the hospital emergency department.  Ambulance crews now consist of highly trained medial technicians, regulated by multiple layers of government authority.  We all benefit from the most advanced emergency medical services in the world, but continuing to provide that level of service on a local, 24-hour, "volunteer" basis has become a challenge that is leading to the end of volunteer squads.

We place "volunteer" in quotes to reflect current reality.  Local ambulances and squad facilities are are often owned and maintained by taxpayers.  In addition, the difficulty of recruiting, training and retaining enough qualified volunteer emergency medical technicians had led some localities to hire full time EMT staff to assure 24-hour coverage.  Adding local government employees in today's environment defines "unsustainable".

As costs and taxes spiral out of control, Central New York municipalities are looking for new solutions:

The village of Minoa is investigating whether it would save money by eliminating its village-run ambulance service and contracting with another provider.

The village issued requests for proposals to several other providers, including EAVES, WAVES, NAVAC, Fayetteville, TLC and Rural Metro. The proposals are due today, and the village will decide what to do by next month, Mayor Richard Donovan said.

The village needs to cut costs, and this one measure being evaluated, Donovan said. Minoa is facing a budget gap of as much as $300,000, Donovan said. It already has trimmed many costs, he said.

Finger Lakes county, town and village governments must quickly move to privatization of basic services, or loose those services entirely.  Minoa's approach to ambulance service is the correct one.  Solicit several proposals, then ask community members to rip each proposal apart until the best one survives.  Precedents abound - in addition to providing ambulance service to Rochester, Syracuse and 400 other cities around the country, Rural/Metro Corporation also provides fire departments to 25 municipalities.  Indeed, readers may be surprised to learn that in "progressive" Ithaca, ambulance service has long been provided by for-profit Bangs Ambulance, Inc.