Towns back away from village ambulance service in New Berlin
NEW BERLIN – The towns of Columbus and New Berlin have voted to discontinue receiving service from the Village of New Berlin ambulance.
Columbus has instead approved a six-month agreement with Cooperstown Medical Transport (CMT) and will continue to receive service from Sherburne.
According to Supervisor Tom Grace, the decision to abandon the agreement with the Village of New Berlin is “a travesty.”
“I will do everything in my power to reverse this decision and make sure our residents have the best available local coverage,” he said.
However, board members of the Town of New Berlin have stood by their decision, citing inaccuracies in the ambulance service budget and a $53,000 deficit which has forced the village to remove funds from its own reserves.
“The village is going to do what it believes is best for the village,” said Town Supervisor Ross Iannello. “People just haven’t gotten enough information throughout this process.”
The decision to step away from the village ambulance service came after months of discussion regarding the formation of “ambulance districts” in the towns of Columbus and New Berlin.
Confusion has arisen within the two towns as to the exact purpose of the formation of the tax districts. This is due, in part, to the recent formation of the Unadilla Valley Ambulance Corp., an ambulance service run by a not-for-profit company which would provide service to both New Berlin and Columbus.
The UVAC was formed by members of an advisory board originally created in order to determine a way to provide ambulance care to the above mentioned towns, as well as the village of New Berlin.
“I assure you that the two issues, the tax district and the ambulance service, are completely separate,” insisted Iannelle. “The tax district deals with how the towns pay for the EMS service they receive ... it’s about putting a separate tax line into the budget that will show taxpayers exactly how much they are paying.”
Both towns rejected the proposed tax districts in a public vote last month.
Village of New Berlin Mayor Terry Potter said the village ambulance service will continue to provide care to anyone in the area.
“Our number one goal is of course patient care,” he said. “We’re in the process of fine-tuning our process and making sure our service runs as smoothly as possible.”
He explained that poor management and a lack of accountability had caused the discrepancy in funds, but that recent changes in leadership have put the ambulance service on a good course.
The UVAC is still seeking to create an ambulance service that would offer approximately the same coverage as the current New Berlin Village service.
According to George Coates, the new ambulance service will provide the same level of patient care, but with more control over the cost to the taxpayers, although currently there is no estimation on what that figure would look like.
“We’re certainly not in it to make any money ... it’s providing a service to the people and we’ll now be in direct control over it,” said Coates. He explained that the UVAC is a not-for-profit company run by a board of directors.
Columbus has instead approved a six-month agreement with Cooperstown Medical Transport (CMT) and will continue to receive service from Sherburne.
According to Supervisor Tom Grace, the decision to abandon the agreement with the Village of New Berlin is “a travesty.”
“I will do everything in my power to reverse this decision and make sure our residents have the best available local coverage,” he said.
However, board members of the Town of New Berlin have stood by their decision, citing inaccuracies in the ambulance service budget and a $53,000 deficit which has forced the village to remove funds from its own reserves.
“The village is going to do what it believes is best for the village,” said Town Supervisor Ross Iannello. “People just haven’t gotten enough information throughout this process.”
The decision to step away from the village ambulance service came after months of discussion regarding the formation of “ambulance districts” in the towns of Columbus and New Berlin.
Confusion has arisen within the two towns as to the exact purpose of the formation of the tax districts. This is due, in part, to the recent formation of the Unadilla Valley Ambulance Corp., an ambulance service run by a not-for-profit company which would provide service to both New Berlin and Columbus.
The UVAC was formed by members of an advisory board originally created in order to determine a way to provide ambulance care to the above mentioned towns, as well as the village of New Berlin.
“I assure you that the two issues, the tax district and the ambulance service, are completely separate,” insisted Iannelle. “The tax district deals with how the towns pay for the EMS service they receive ... it’s about putting a separate tax line into the budget that will show taxpayers exactly how much they are paying.”
Both towns rejected the proposed tax districts in a public vote last month.
Village of New Berlin Mayor Terry Potter said the village ambulance service will continue to provide care to anyone in the area.
“Our number one goal is of course patient care,” he said. “We’re in the process of fine-tuning our process and making sure our service runs as smoothly as possible.”
He explained that poor management and a lack of accountability had caused the discrepancy in funds, but that recent changes in leadership have put the ambulance service on a good course.
The UVAC is still seeking to create an ambulance service that would offer approximately the same coverage as the current New Berlin Village service.
According to George Coates, the new ambulance service will provide the same level of patient care, but with more control over the cost to the taxpayers, although currently there is no estimation on what that figure would look like.
“We’re certainly not in it to make any money ... it’s providing a service to the people and we’ll now be in direct control over it,” said Coates. He explained that the UVAC is a not-for-profit company run by a board of directors.
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