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ROTTERDAM
Ambulance company seeks aid
Monthly fee would help until district is decided upon
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette.net.

    Officials from the Rotterdam Emergency Medical Services are requesting that the town provide a monthly contribution until an ambulance district can be set up to fund the cash-strapped company.
    Joe VanDerwerker, the chairman of the ambulance company’s board, asked for a monthly contribution of $14,000 until town officials decide whether to support the move to create the district. He said delays in state Medicare payments coupled with the lingering debt hanging over the organization have driven it to the brink of insolvency.
    “With today’s economy, there is definitely an impact on our fi - nancial stability, which requires support,” he told members of the Town Board during their meeting Wednesday.
    Earlier this month, the lack of funding forced REMS to reduce staffing at its west station and delay paying its employees. At the time, VanDerwerker said the ambulance company was awaiting more than $30,000 worth of payments from Medicare for transport services, which is a primary source of income for the unit.
    An attorney for the town recently completed a study to determine the area of the proposed ambulance district. But even if the district is created, it isn’t likely to provide funding for REMS until 2010.
    Providing funds to the ambulance service in advance of the district’s creation could also be tricky, warned Supervisor Steve Tommasone. The town needed to dip into its fund balance this year to offset a property tax increase that was included in the preliminary 2009 budget.
    “The issue is dollars,” he said. “Hopefully, we won’t be in this position next year.”
    Even board member ...................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01202

Hey, Justin, I know you come on this site.  When you see this message, please send me a personal message and let me know if you have a contact e-mail address for Joe VanDerwerker.  I might have a few questions to ask him.  Thanks.

once more the bashing of the volunteers and the men in blue and hero fire men by the repubs who want to ruin it all and leave us with out the protection

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once more the bashing of the volunteers and the men in blue and hero fire men by the repubs who want to ruin it all and leave us with out the protection

Who's bashing?

just PAY up already  and SHUT UP and stop with the holding the people hostage! What about the seniors! If Stevie shuts it down after all the years then the people will die on the streets what is wrong with you repubs always wanting to hurt the poeople and the little kids over here?

Tell you what, Salvatore, I was just asking for information so I could understand things better.  
If you really want the complaining to end, why don't you start sending them the check instead of the town sending it to them, $16,000 a month?

The republicans in town are addressing it and I didnt get the impression they want it to die on the vine or any such nonsense. I sense Sal is trying to make up issues which makes me think he is the Italian Bob Godloseski.


I recall all the democrats did when they ran the town a few years ago to fix the problem with the ambulance service. Here is what they did:

I have always been a proponant and supported Rotterdam having it's own ambulance service. And although I admire the dedication of Rotterdam's ambulance squad, I am not now in agreement with forming a tax base for an Ambulance service. If an ambulance service can not sustain itself, without expanding a tax base, than it would be finacially irresponsible to create a tax base that will become a money pit over the years.

I would suggest educating and informing the residents of Rotterdam on the pros and cons of both options and let them decide by vote. IMHO

Even when the ambulance service in Rotterdam was all volunteer there was still a problem raising enough money every year to buy new equipment, maintenance on the ambulances, required training classes, and to replace equipment used on calls. Now that it's a paid ambulance corp the expenses are even higher due to salaries that have to be paid. This is a no win situation, either we pay for quality ambulance service through higher taxes or we lose the Rotterdam ambulance to a paid ambulance service like Mohawk which covers a larger area and is paid for every call they make but the response time may suffer. It's not an easy choice no matter which way the decision goes.

I give the current town board a LOT of credit for trying to solve what could become a HUGE problem if not addressed.

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At the time, VanDerwerker said the ambulance company was awaiting more than $30,000 worth of payments from Medicare for transport services, which is a primary source of income for the unit.

So, I have a question.  If you have $30,000 outstanding this month, what'd you do with last month's receipts?  Are your books current? Are bills being processed timely and collection efforts being made for the outstanding balances?  A lot of companies depend on monthly recurring revenue, the bills you receive this month should be paid out of last month's receipts.  If you have billing due for $30,000 - don't go out and spend $29,000 ... it's called BUDGETING and proper billing.   Are the bills still being prepared by the unpaid workers wife who did it on her home computer "as time permitted"?

Obviously 'we will pay' one way or another. However, creating a tax base for an ambulance service is not fiscally responsible. It WILL become a money pit/black hole. I can't even believe I'm saying this, but I say, give Mohawk a try. From what I'm told, Rotterdam is down to one ambulance now and Mohawk is responding to most of the calls anyway.

This appears to have been a problem for a very very long time and should have been addressed a very very long time ago. And Rotterdam's ambulance service is still in financial trouble. It does  not look like a good financial, taxpaid investment to me.

And let me make it clear that this has absoultly nothing to do with anyone! My opinion is bases on fiscally responsibility  ONLY!!  IMHO

you repubs just want the rich to be richer and you dont want the people to be heklped if your rich friends cant make a donation to you so Stevie we know you are trying to hurt the volunteer ambulance and fire men since you are dead set against the men in blue you are going for a perfect trifecta of hate for the first responders. You should be put in jail for the lives that you are taking by trying to give it to Mohawk ambulance and people WILL DIE if we lose the volunteers which we all know can do it for much much less since they are raking the peoplle over the coals like the rich do. You are trying to kill people just sos you can make more money off the backs of the people. You and Johhny boy Mertz. I say SHUT UP AND PAY UP over here

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you repubs just want the rich to be richer and you dont want the people to be heklped if your rich friends cant make a donation to you so Stevie we know you are trying to hurt the volunteer ambulance and fire men since you are dead set against the men in blue you are going for a perfect trifecta of hate for the first responders. You should be put in jail for the lives that you are taking by trying to give it to Mohawk ambulance and people WILL DIE if we lose the volunteers which we all know can do it for much much less since they are raking the peoplle over the coals like the rich do.

I was of the understanding that REMS is a paid service, no longer a volunteer organization.  

we dont need the outsiders trying to push us into a death trap over here plese mr Littleman. You dont know about Rotterdam and I am a life long person over here, these men put the lives on the line and volunteer and you want to put it with a rich corporation along with Stevie T and Mertz which is a disgrazia