MILLERTON —The Town of North East’s EMS provider, Northern Dutchess Paramedics (NDP), proposed a new contract with a 70% pricing increase for next year.
The five-year contract with NDP is coming to an end within the next couple of months. NDP has increased its payments by two percent each year it has worked in the town, making this new increase significantly higher than usual.
NDP shared its contract with the Towns of North East, Amenia and Dover. Under the contract, an ALS (Advanced Life Support) ambulance must be stationed in each of the three towns.
“Towns with much larger populations require less municipal funding because their EMS providers have more calls and there is more revenue for the provider from insurance and user fees,” Chris Kennan said in an email. “With its population of around 3000 people, the Town of North East has less than one call per day for ambulance service, which makes it very expensive for us and a big piece of the Town’s annual budget.”
A possible 70% increase in service pricing would impose expenses on residents, Kennan said, increasing property taxes at an “unacceptable” rate. According to Kennan, every municipality in Dutchess County is dealing with similar EMS problems. This calendar year the Town is spending $376,858 on EMS services, which is about 10.5% of the Town’s budget. NDP has requested $646,300 for their services next year, creating a 71.5% increase in fees.
“I do also want to express my appreciation to NDP for the service they have provided over the past five years,” Kennan said, “It is a tough business, and the relatively low wages that emergency medical technicians (EMTs) can earn, coupled with the many long hours they spend just waiting for a call, make attracting people to the business a challenge.”
The Town of North East is still looking into negotiating a new contract with another EMS provider and has one guideline they are standing by: they will not leave the town without an ambulance service.
“I am also looking at ways in which the service could be reconfigured in order to make these exorbitant costs somewhat more manageable,” Kennan said. “Lastly, and very important, the Town Board and I will be looking at all the various options we can find to reduce this cost. However, at the end of the day, we cannot do without EMS services completely.”
