Minoa gets out of ambulance business

The Syracuse area's Village of Minoa has turned over operation of it's municiapl ambulance service to another operator.  Facing a $300,000 operating deficit, trustees faced reality and made what was surely a tough decision.  The operation will now be run by nonprofit WAVES, a nearby service provider.

The change will mean an estimated eight village ambulance employees will be removed from the Village's payroll.  Most of those staff are expected to be hired by WAVES.

Using government to provide any service that could be handled otherwise always results in higher costs and lower efficiency.  Forced to pay taxes that are among the highest in the country, Finger Lakes residents must demand more of these changes from their elected officials, or replace them with representatives who understand the urgency of the problem.

Previous discussions of financial difficulties facing Central New York's municipal emergency services here and here.

Finger Lakes town requests ambulance proposals

1956 Cadillac

Last week we advised Finger Lakes municipalities to embrace privatization of services, citing the Villlage of Minoa's plan to get out of the ambulance business.  Today the Ithaca Journal reports that the Town of Ulysses is requesting proposals from private sector EMS providers.

Ambulance service in the rural Town of Ulysses has long been provided under contract by the tiny Village of Trumansburg's volunteer squad.  As more demanding lifestyles made volunteer EMT staff harder to find, Trumansburg hired professional staff to provide 24-hour coverage.  

As goverment employees, the paid EMT crew quickly became very expensive and difficult for part time village officials to manage.  The volunteer service did not charge patients, adding to the financial stress.  When it was realized that many patients' heath insurance would pay for ambulance rides, a suggestion was made to begin billing for services.  This led to a protracted battle between  officials trying to deal with massive costs and local leftists who view free EMS service as the first step toward 100% government provided health care.

After years of debate and legal fees, Ulysses Town Board member Kevin Romer is leading an effort to consider privatization:

The town board will send out a request for proposals to provide ambulance and emergency medical service to ambulance providers to get a clearer picture of what the disparity in annual costs is between the Village of Trumansburg's EMS service and commercial providers such as Bangs Ambulance...

At the board meeting Tuesday night, board member Kevin Romer said the request for proposals is for comments only and to allow EMS providers to give feedback about their expectations of ambulance service. Romer said the village has so far been uninterested in privatizing, even if it would save money.

"All this is just to get information on what it would cost (for a private company to provide ambulance service in town)," Romer said.

Romer said Bangs Ambulance gave him an unofficial rough estimate of $243,000 annually for providing ambulance service based in the village, while the village's total EMS budget hovers around $450,000, he said.

Romer said he's frustrated by how little progress has been made on the issue since he became involved. He said the EMS Task Force, a joint-municipal committee formed to solve the issue, hasn't even met in five months, although it does have a meeting scheduled this month. (bold added)

Many (but apparently not all) Finger Lakes taxpayers are struggling to keep their homes in the face of some of the highest property taxes in the country.  Yet even as those taxes increase every year, our local governments are reluctant to consider new ideas for providing basic services.  Part of the problem is that busy families are often unable to keep up with these issues, only to be shocked yet again when they open their tax bills.  This blog intends to raise awareness.  Please discuss with your neighbors.

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.