By Michael Ryan
CATSKILL - A watched pot never boils, the old saying goes, but discussions surrounding the possible creation of a countywide ambulance system are being closely eyeballed and quickly boiling down to “do it or don’t.”
The Greene County Legislature is hosting the next in a months-long series of talks on the issue, May 14, at the Emergency Services Center in Cairo, where the agenda is expected to be twofold.
County administrator Shaun Groden will be presenting more precise dollar amounts on the increased cost of shifting from municipally-owned squads to a single network, a number that has already reached $3.2 million.
That initial figure is based on the need to pay workers significantly more money and hire more people to do the jobs of paramedics, EMT’s and drivers, all of whom will be getting better benefits, as well.
Groden has spent the four weeks between the last legislative session, held in mid-April, and now, arriving at the estimated expenses for what he is calling “the back of the house,” referring to system administration, etc.
That number brings the anticipated, unified-system increase to $4 million over what the county and towns, combined, are currently spending on emergency medical response and transport.
While the price tag is breath-taking, not necessarily in a pleasant sort of way, proponents say the tradeoff is a system that will be rock solid, not fluctuating between highly functional and on the verge of flailing.
Lawmakers began looking into the countywide system eighteen months ago after a group of mountaintop town supervisors came to them, collectively saying light was fading at the end of the tunnel.
The cost of maintaining a municipal ambulance and the related operational headaches were becoming oppressive, the supervisors said, appealing to lawmakers to finally take the steps to bring about change.
Their appeal, made in the fall of 2023, was not the first in the local industry, dating back 25 years and the inevitability that the days of volunteerism were dying, leading to the formation of the so-called flycars.
They are a fleet of five units manned and womaned by paramedics who are at-the-ready 24/7/365, arriving at the emergency scene swiftly, although they do not provide transport to a hospital.
And therein lies the economic rub. A variety of solutions have been found to the transport problem by municipalities, many of them under intensifying pressure to survive, particularly the six mountaintop towns.
But they are not alone and lawmakers remember being in this same spot a decade or so ago when a special Task Force was organized to study the exact same circumstances existing today.
It was recommended, then, that a countywide system be created but the towns could not come to a consensus and the idea died on the vine.
Fast forward to 2025. “This is not us saying it,” legislature chairman Patrick Linger says. “This is the towns saying this, that they can’t support this system anymore and something needs to happen.”
Lawmakers, shortly after being visited by mountaintop leaders in 2023, hired a consultant for an independent study on emergency services.
The consultant provided four options for improvement including the county concept which has been the focus of a series of talks beginning in the autumn of 2024 and continuing, next week.
Money, of course, is a key question and Groden, as a followup to his back-of-the-house presentation, is expected to dive even more deeply into the fiscal weeds for an already-scheduled June legislative meeting.
If the county system is set up, a transfer of ownership would have to be undertaken from municipalities to the county involving rigs, buildings, equipment, supplies, etc., termed “asset management” by Groden.
Groden, in June, will break down the asset management elements, saying “we will then have a much clearer picture of the full financial impact,” Groden says, leading to the do it or don’t aspect.
It is expected that lawmakers, starting in early summer, will conduct two or three public information meetings on the county plan, leading to a legislature vote on whether to move forward or not.
Linger is strongly supportive of moving forward, saying, “what happens if, or when, one of these towns says, ‘we’re not going to do this anymore.’
“This is literally where Prattsville is this year,” Linger says, referencing comments made recently by their town supervisor, Greg Cross.
Cross has said his small community with its limited tax base cannot incur ever-rising EMS expenses and maintain necessary public services.
Opposition to the county system is emerging within the legislature and on the streets, citing uncertainties about its success and the great expense.
Linger, staying committed, says, “by law, ambulance service is not an essential service,” a source of mystification, given its vitalness.
“Just because the State doesn’t say it is an essential service doesn’t mean Greene County can’t say it is, or should we just wait for towns to start dropping out and then say this service doesn’t exist?” Linger says.
Groden, as part of the May 14 meeting, says he hopes lawmakers can sit down separately with in-the-trenches EMS employees, “to hear their concerns,” and “let the rubber hit the road.”
EMS professionals and municipal government officials have been part of all the discussions, thus far, with private citizens always invited to attend.
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