Push to privatize Upper Township Rescue Squad met with stiff opposition
Written by Columb Higgins Tuesday, 14 February 2012 12:41
Budget workshop cuts $108K for zero tax increase
PETERSBURG – Upper Township Committee Monday cut $108,000 from the proposed 2012 municipal budget, assuring a zero local purpose tax increase for property owners here.
The cuts were made to the $11.4 million budget with little fanfare. But proposed changes to operations that could save as much as $400,000 a year, according to Committeeman Tony Inserra, were met with vocal opposition from other members on committee.
The most controversial proposal would privatize Upper Township’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) resulting in potential savings of $400,000 a year, said Inserra.
The Upper Township Rescue Squad had $562,000 budgeted for salaries last year, with $93,000 in operating expenses. The squad brought in $221,000 in fees, resulting in a loss of some $400,000. Inserra said privatizing operations would save that $400,000 and services would be the same.
“Several towns have privatized their EMS,” said Inserra. “The move will not cost anybody their jobs. The company that gets the bid will hire all of the rescue squad employees.”
Other committee members said a private company couldn’t come close to offering the services that the Upper Township Rescue Squad provides.
“Service will not be the same,” said Committeeman Jay Newman, who oversees public safety operations as part of his duties on township committee. Newman is also chief of the Marmora Volunteer Fire Company. “Are they ready to provide an ambulance 24/7 to Strathmere, two people sitting in Strathmere? They’re going to provide two ambulances to Upper Township 24/7? There is no way.”
Inserra said he spoke with the director of AtlantiCare’s emergency services, who assured him services would not change.
“The contract will be written up the way we want it to be,” said Inserra. “If it’s not met we’ll get out.”
“I think we need to check with some of the towns that have privatized,” said Newman. “I don’t mean to put anybody down but if trash isn’t picked up tomorrow, guess what it gets picked up the following day. If we make one mistake out there it could cost somebody their lives.”
Rescue squad Chief Jay Potter said “it’s easy for somebody to tell you what they’re going to give you. They’ll sell you a bill of goods.
“Quality doesn’t come cheap,” said Potter.
Potter said AtlantiCare recently began stationing two paramedics with an ambulance at Township Hall to provide services to Upper Township. Some days the paramedics are there, some days they aren’t, he said.
“They can do that because they’re a private company,” said Potter. “If someone needs an ambulance and there isn’t one here, Ocean City or Dennis Township isn’t going to come. They’re going to call one of their own rigs from Somers Point. That’s a long way.”
Mayor Richard Palombo said he is never opposed to looking at ways to save money, but was concerned about the unknowns privatizing EMS would create. AtlantiCare or any other bidder would “have to do a hell of a sales job on me,” he said.
“I know what kind of job our rescue squad does,” said Palombo. “If I ever have a heart attack, and I hope I never do, I want them to be there.
“I need a huge assurance that it is the same service. There’s no question we have more seniors living here. We get more than 1,000 calls a year. That’s a significant amount of calls. Plus they go to every accident that happens, every fire…”
“Football games,” interjected Deputy Mayor Curtis Corson, Jr.
“I guess I’m not being clear, they will do everything we have now,” said Inserra.
Corson questioned whether the township would even realize a savings if the private company had to provide all the services currently covered by the rescue squad.
“Are we going to get charged per call?” said Corson. “You say there’s a savings there but how do you know? Are we going to get charged per call?”
“We’re getting charged per call now,” said Inserra.
“How are they going to make their money?” asked Corson.
“That’s their problem,” said Inserra.
“You know how they make their money? By billing for calls,” said Newman.
Potter said AtlantiCare or any other bidder would not be able to negotiate its price for responses as that would constitute Medicare fraud. Upper Township charges $600 per call and $10 per mile; AtlantiCare charges $800 to $1,000 per call and $22 per mile, he said.
“It’s the unknown more than anything,” said Palombo. “I’m all for trying to save money but not when it comes to life and death. EMS can’t be trial and error and if it fails we’ll switch back. I don’t want that on my conscience.”
Palombo said Upper Township has a population of 13,000 spread out across 63 square miles. Response time is key in EMS, he said.
“It’s more than just the population, it’s the size of the township. Response time is usually the sole criteria on whether you save a life,” he said. “Our rescue squad does a wonderful job. They cover the entire township 24/7 through a mix of part-time and volunteer hours.”
Palombo asked Inserra what would become of volunteers that supplement the rescue squad if the service was privatized. Inserra said many of the volunteers also work part-time for AtlantiCare and would be absorbed.
Beach tags finally coming to Upper?
Inserra also proposed instituting beach tags on Upper Township beaches. He said the tags could make $250,000 a year, which would cover the costs for beach personnel ($200,000 in 2011) and the cost of nine beach taggers (estimated at $44,000).
“(Beach replenishment) is costing us a lot of money,” said Inserra. “The money isn’t there. We have to explore another option.”
Palombo said he wasn’t sure there were enough beachgoers in Strathmere for beach tags to make sense financially.
“Looking at Ocean City isn’t a good comparison,” he said. “They have more transient population in a three block radius than all of Strathmere.”
Palombo said the Upper Township Beach Patrol has conducted beach counts over the past two summers in order to determine whether beach tags would work. Many of the beachgoers are the same week-to-week, he said.
“You would sell a few seasonal tags but the real money is in the daily and weekly tags,” said Palombo. “I’m not sure the population is there to support it.”
Committee agreed to conduct more beach counts this summer to determine whether beach tags should be instituted in 2013.
Other savings questioned
Inserra also sought savings by combining the planning and zoning boards and removing the job title of public works superintendent from township engineer Paul Dietrich.
Combining the planning and zoning boards would save $34,000. Dietrich receives a $10,000 stipend as public works superintendent.
Committee members said combining the boards would not save any money as the same amount of work would have to be done. The planning and zoning board secretary and solicitor are paid on an hourly basis, said Corson, so combining their duties would just increase their hours.
Corson said that ever since Dietrich took over as public works superintendent in 2005 complaints have gone down.
“Any cost savings would be detrimental to service,” he said.
Inserra said he could serve as public works superintendent. Dietrich said that he couldn’t without certification.
“You can’t oversee day-to-day operations,” he said. “You need to be certified.”
Inserra made a motion to remove the title but there was no second.
Another budget workshop is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 27 at 6:30 p.m. Township committee’s regular meeting will follow at 7:30 p.m.
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