It really looks like they don't have a clue!! They are 'all' way over their head and 'none' of them have any business representingrotterdam folks....or any folks for that matter.

From abstaining from votes, to voting 'yes' for something they admittedly knew nothing about, to allowing EE to continue her $50K/year salary when they had the power to lower it, to the senior gossip center fiasco, to the attorney fiasco, to the budget fiasco, to the moving employees from one desk to another fiasco, to the rems/missing als $$ fiasco........and the freakin' list goes on and on and on!!!

If these 5 are a mirror reflection of the mentality of all rotterdamians........then rotterdam deserves being called the 'laughing stock'!!  And if rotterdamians vote in another democon.......it will seal their fate and laughing stock title!!

And tippy.....it's not just the super and the deputy..........they are a reflection of the entire democon party!!
BEWARE OF BACKPEDALING!

ALS vs BLS

I see that a certain for-profit ambulance service  is now shaking down Glenville for a $50,000 a year subsidy  -- I thought this company didn't need subsidies ???  

To paraphrase Lincoln ---  "you can't fool all of the people all of the time -- you just have to fool the fools like KR and GB and the other nayboobs to pull a fast one"

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

I see that a certain for-profit ambulance service  is now shaking down Glenville for a $50,000 a year subsidy  -- I thought this company didn't need subsidies ???  

To paraphrase Lincoln ---  "you can't fool all of the people all of the time -- you just have to fool the fools like KR and GB and the other nayboobs to pull a fast one"

There's a lot of for profit milllionaire businesses downtown Schenectady that collectively have gotten tens of MILLIONS of dollars AND then on top of the tens of millions in handouts from the taxpayers, then they get exempt from paying the property and school taxes out of their own fat bank accounts, thus leaving financially struggling families in the city to pay not only their own taxes but the taxes for thes multimillioniares and billionaires.  

You really have a lot of nerve bring up the issue above when you are the LOUDEST CHEERLEADER for robbing the taxapyers dry to give the taxpayers' money to for-profit businesses.

That's what acceptance to dependence leads to........keep it up.....at least we can make potatoe vodka to dull the pain

following through with the paraphrase from Abraham Lincoln ---  "you can't fool all of the people all of the time... and MC is just a plain damn fool."    

Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM
Town supervisor questions billing for ambulance
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette.net.

    Supervisor Frank Del Gallo said an independent billing company only collected about $39,000 in advanced life support payments for the town’s not-for-profi t ambulance service in 2009.
    Del Gallo said the figure is roughly $50,000 less than what town officials initially projected Rotterdam Emergency Medical Services Inc. received for services provided by the town-operated paramedics. But he said the ambulance service’s billing practices in 2009 — the last full year it collected advance life support payments — were different and that the billing company wasn’t receiving as much as it could have from insurance companies.
    “They’re claiming they weren’t billing properly then and they weren’t collecting all the money,” he said Tuesday.
    The practice of billing for the paramedics ended shortly after Del Gallo’s administration took offi ce in 2010.
    Del Gallo demanded a full accounting of the paramedic reimbursements collected by the ambulance service and was later authorized to negotiate a repayment of the funds to the town.
    Terence Hannigan, an attorney representing REMS in their negotiations with the town, said the fi gure accurately represents the proceeds the ambulance service collected. He said the billing company’s records detail all the payments that were received that year.
    “We’ve given the town the numbers based on the billing records,” he said. “That’s all there is.”
    Under the previous administration of Supervisor Steve Tommasone, REMS was apparently authorized to keep paramedic reimbursements for their operating expenses while the ambulance service tried to iron out a contract with the town.
    The town did not subsidize REMS prior to 2009, and offi cials with the ambulance service indicated they used the advance life support payments to stave off insolvency.
    Del Gallo said the ambulance service seems willing to repay the money. He’s hoping to work out a settlement agreement where REMS will pay the town in four installments next year.
    “Last I spoke to them they have no problem paying it back,” he said. “They just want some time to catch up on their bills.”
    Meanwhile, Del Gallo said the town is closer to signing a new agreement that will allow REMS to start billing patients when paramedics respond to a call. Only now, the funds will be given to the town.
    Members of the Town Board anticipated $100,000 in revenue from such payments in the 2011 budget. But more than seven months have passed without an agreement and Del Gallo is uncertain whether retroactive billing will result in payments.
    If the town fails to collect paramedic reimbursements from January through July, Rotterdam could end up with a budgetary shortfall. Del Gallo said board members should have never put the revenue line into the budget to begin with. .........................>>>>.................>>>>.................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01200&AppName=1

          Can we please just compare the REMS 2009 ALS billing with the number of Paramedic calls that year?  I mean won't this be a reasonable cross check on the accuracy of REMS' books?  Who knows how many ALS calls were never billed.  $39,000/yr. would represent about only 10% of REMS' call volume, seems extraordinarily low, and not a valid predicter of current usage.

           And what is the status of the contract to collect current ALS billings?  The referendum vote was last December . . . . and still not two cents coming to the Town!

Quoted from AVON

          Can we please just compare the REMS 2009 ALS billing with the number of Paramedic calls that year?  I mean won't this be a reasonable cross check on the accuracy of REMS' books?  Who knows how many ALS calls were never billed.  $39,000/yr. would represent about only 10% of REMS' call volume, seems extraordinarily low, and not a valid predicter of current usage.

           And what is the status of the contract to collect current ALS billings?  The referendum vote was last December . . . . and still not two cents coming to the Town!

It's the bills that never went to collection that we should be looking at...and it includes the past several years...not just 2009...not
by a longshot...our own Police Chief made it clear that REMS had been collecting this money for "at least the last four or five years".
It was clearly an attempt to hang Tommasone and only Tommasone....but you can bet that ALS billing and collection began long
before the Tommasone administration...and for all we know they continued to collect right through 2010, while they were collecting
10K a month from the Town.

Keep in mind that according to REMS these suddenly available "records" never existed until reimbursement became necessary to
finalize any contract with the Town...and if they were made to repay the actual take over all these years they would be gone and they
know it. They are already struggling with this artificially low figure for just one year...and this is with a new "consultant" who claims
REMS is now running as a business...and a reported 35K from their recent solicitation for "donations"...imagine if they had to pay
full reimbursement for all ALS...from the last several years.

The "status" of the ALS contract is virtually nonexistent...there is only a proposed EMS contract...unsigned and unavailable to the
public. The PD continues to have sole discretion over who is sent to emergency calls...they always send REMS...and the paramedics.
Now we're supposed to believe that they suddenly stopped billing for ALS? Peter Brodie claims they are not billing for ALS because
they have no contract to do so...but that never stopped them in the past.

Quoted from gadfly

It's the bills that never went to collection that we should be looking at...and it includes the past several years...not just 2009...not
by a longshot...our own Police Chief made it clear that REMS had been collecting this money for "at least the last four or five years".
It was clearly an attempt to hang Tommasone and only Tommasone....but you can bet that ALS billing and collection began long
before the Tommasone administration...and for all we know they continued to collect right through 2010, while they were collecting
10K a month from the Town.

Keep in mind that according to REMS these suddenly available "records" never existed until reimbursement became necessary to
finalize any contract with the Town...and if they were made to repay the actual take over all these years they would be gone and they
know it. They are already struggling with this artificially low figure for just one year...and this is with a new "consultant" who claims
REMS is now running as a business...and a reported 35K from their recent solicitation for "donations"...imagine if they had to pay
full reimbursement for all ALS...from the last several years.

The "status" of the ALS contract is virtually nonexistent...there is only a proposed EMS contract...unsigned and unavailable to the
public. The PD continues to have sole discretion over who is sent to emergency calls...they always send REMS...and the paramedics.
Now we're supposed to believe that they suddenly stopped billing for ALS? Peter Brodie claims they are not billing for ALS because
they have no contract to do so...but that never stopped them in the past.

           OK, so the past years are essentially "water over the dam"!  The Town will not be able to recoup the likely 100's of thousands of lost revenue if it has been 3 years or more.  But the question is, What is the status of the current contract?  The residents voted down the special tax district last December.  Because there is no contract in place, the Town is continuing to subsidize REMS by failing to recoup the ALS billings.  Where is yesterdays ALS monies, and the day before, week before, month before, etc.  Whose responsibility is it to get this contract executed?

          This is criminal (tic) for the Town Board to continue to drag its feet on this one simple issue.  It leaves the voter no other alternative but to assume the Board is complicit.  Is this representation of the residents?  I think not . . . . .

here's the deal....regardless of the billing....

if there weren't that many ALS calls then....WE DONT NEED A SUBSIDISED AMBULANCE CORE.....GOT IT!!!!!

BLS IS JUST A RIDE.....keep it private.....any ambulance company that asks for subsidy should find a new business

The problem could be solved tomorrow -- if the Supervisor actually showed up at Town Hall and signed ALS billing contracts with EVERY ambulance service that answers calls in the town.

But that won't happen because  Mr. Del Gallo and Mr. Godlewski are jerking the taxpayers around on this issue -- because its an election year.    

Why doesn't someone just ask the person who was their attorney and cpa??? I'm sure they have the records!! Perhaps the NYS audit will request this info via subpoena.

Quoted from bumblethru

Why doesn't someone just ask the person who was their attorney and cpa??? I'm sure they have the records!! Perhaps the NYS audit will request this info via subpoena.

There never was an attorney or CPA until they lobbied for their tax district....and the ALS scandal was revealed...that was one of their
problems...they didn't want "outsiders" overseeing their affairs despite their complete lack of business competence because that would
have interfered with their golden ALS egg.

They hired an attorney to defend them from the explosive ALS scandal...and a "consultant" to take over for TJ in doing their talking
for them....as they have never presented their own woeful case.

The bottom line is that they were not recording money they continued to keep illegally...that's why there were no books...no
lawyers....no CPAs....until they needed a defense attorney... and had to fabricate records to keep them in a false state of contract
competition....since they could never compete with the private alternative.

Any audit to be performed must be done by qualified professionals....with subpoena power...and needs to include bank
records from way, way back....and FDG does not qualify.

Quoted from gadfly

There never was an attorney or CPA until they lobbied for their tax district....and the ALS scandal was revealed...that was one of their
problems...they didn't want "outsiders" overseeing their affairs despite their complete lack of business competence because that would
have interfered with their golden ALS egg.

They hired an attorney to defend them from the explosive ALS scandal...and a "consultant" to take over for TJ in doing their talking
for them....as they have never presented their own woeful case.

The bottom line is that they were not recording money they continued to keep illegally...that's why there were no books...no
lawyers....no CPAs....until they needed a defense attorney... and had to fabricate records to keep them in a false state of contract
competition....since they could never compete with the private alternative.

Any audit to be performed must be done by qualified professionals....with subpoena power...and needs to include bank
records from way, way back....and FDG does not qualify.

     OK Gadfly, we get it!  But again, What is the status of the current contract with the ambulance service to allow them to collect for ALS services, AND reimburse the Town?  If the problem is with REMS, then there should be a switch to another provider.  But if the problem resides with the Town Board, then that is a different issue.  Failure to execute the contract increases the overall tax burden and is not indicative of representation for the residents.  Again, the past monies are one issue, and the current lost monies due to inaction is a separate issue.