Quoted from bumblethru

Anything on the town meeting last night? I read here that people voice their support or opposition. But does it really matter since the town (s.t., suhrada, signore, marchenkowski) back peddled and will put it up for a referendum now? What did any of these guys say? Did they outwardly come out in support of it, like their campaign signs say?

Nothing from the guys you mentioned.  Mertz and Tommasone went back and forth with Town residents.  Also, McGarry, Littlefield and O'Connor spoke out against a special tax district.

REMS claimed their income is way up because they are taking almost every call in Rotterdam, basically shutting out Mohawk.  Town will support REMS either through the tax district or through general fund.  It came out that both revenue streams are funded by taxpayers with Ad Valorem tax on property value.  Current REMS budget indicates about $10 bucks per $100,000 of assessed value.  Many residents concerned over ANOTHER tax.  If a district is formed, they fall under the scrutiny of the State Comptroller, there would be many checks and balances to assure monies are spent appropriately.  I pay big bucks in school and town tax with zero oversight.  I WISH someone would scrutinize that tax money, the ambulance district tax is nothing by comparison.

Public hearing was very good, lots of back and forth, and much information came forward.  REMS is doing a great job with their finances, the team is dedicated and provides a valuable service.  I am hoping the residents support REMS and a special district to establish a framework for them to operate under.  The only caveat to the special tax district is a fear of substantial increases in the rate currently estimated at 10 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.  REMS assured it would not and might even come down.  This topic is critical to Rotterdam, the best hospitals in the world are of no value if we can't get a loved one transported in a timely manner.

The problem with the state being involved with oversite will be all the un-wanted and un-needed mandates which the state will impose which will drive up the expense to REMS and it will get passed on to the taxpayer.

Thanks avon!

My thought.....if rems is doing as well as they say, and they probably are, than I would encourage them to become a viable private business. Having the state comptroller is a joke. Just another layer of taxpaid government. The fox watching the hen house....if you will.After the 'supposed' metroplex audit....the comptroller carries no weight in this matter.

Again....I support rems. But only as a private entity...nothing more or nothing less. They should be competing with other private businesses.

$10, .10, .01 per year of taxes is again just nickel and dimming us to death. IT'S TIME IT STOPS!

And people are NOT dying in the streets from lack of emergency services. I hate those fear tactics. Would people starve if Price Chopper closed it's doors? NOPE! People would go elsewhere while another private business saw an opportunity to move in. That is capitalism.IMHO

Quoted from bumblethru

Thanks avon!

My thought.....if rems is doing as well as they say, and they probably are, than I would encourage them to become a viable private business. Having the state comptroller is a joke. Just another layer of taxpaid government. The fox watching the hen house....if you will.After the 'supposed' metroplex audit....the comptroller carries no weight in this matter.

Again....I support rems. But only as a private entity...nothing more or nothing less. They should be competing with other private businesses.

$10, .10, .01 per year of taxes is again just nickel and dimming us to death. IT'S TIME IT STOPS!

And people are NOT dying in the streets from lack of emergency services. I hate those fear tactics. Would people starve if Price Chopper closed it's doors? NOPE! People would go elsewhere while another private business saw an opportunity to move in. That is capitalism.IMHO

From what I gathered at the meeting, the Town can undo a special tax district via another referendum.  So it is not necessarily a permanent arrangement especially if things go sour.

Quoted from AVON

From what I gathered at the meeting, the Town can undo a special tax district via another referendum.  So it is not necessarily a permanent arrangement especially if things go sour.

I don't put much faith in that either. It would be like the government saying, 'we'll try government healthcare, but if it doesn't work, we'll dis-ban it'. We all know that would never happen.

It becomes politicized and a vehicle for votes. Just like it is now. Privatize it! IMHO

Quoted Text

From what I gathered at the meeting, the Town can undo a special tax district via another referendum.  So it is not necessarily a permanent arrangement especially if things go sour.

The only next 'logical' choice would be to have a 'local good guy/gal' "purchas" the REMS to supposedly save it......other politicians
running currently have boosted their business in the same way.....do you accept this?

REMS should be privatized. Why would the taxpayers even WANT to give their money to an organization KNOWN for it's poor financial practices? It is like throwing good money to bad. We, the taxpayers have already given them 'stimulus monies' to get out of debt.

PRIVATIZE!!! We don't need another tax added to our already high taxes.

The cost for salaries, medical equipment, maintenance, benefits, and the purchase of new vehicles will continue to rise as they always do and the result will be an increase in taxes every time these items are needed. Privatization is the only way to shield the taxpayer from increasing the taxes.

Am i allowed to put in my 2 cents now that i live in Rotterdam?

..............................................................................yeahhhhhhhh...........we are waiting........

It seems like people like Rotterdam Ambulance, and they "seem" to be cost efficient.. so what's the issue?

I really wasn't prepaired to comment on the issue, i was just pointing out i finally live here *shrugs*

because in the past under old management, they had severe fiscal issues and at one time there were two squads both struggling that merged. It took a great deal of time for them to get on the path to straightening out and they are almost there. They are a private, not for profit and it is true they are no longer a fully volunteer squad. The town has utilized their services for decades yet the private Mohawk Ambulance has many calls to town to supplement when REMS is tied up on other calls. On the outside and at first blush it would seem OK to disband them and just use Mohawk, but if you look at the need the town has, the 2 ambulances Mohawk is offering is not enough to cover all major calls. The next issue some have is the concern that once disbanded, the cost to replace the REMS unit would be in the million+ range. Starting anything from scratch in this day and age is cost-prohibitive, especially in government.

Next, should we decide to keep the REMS as our main provide of ambulance service becomes a question of whether the town proceeds to create a dedicated taxing district-town wide. This will be voted on in a referendum in the future, assuming the administration does not change in January. Taking the emotion out of it has not been easy as many feel this is the single issue which divides "conservatives" and "liberals." My belief all along is that there needs to be a public referendum on this where all voters can participate, which apparently makes me into the biggest spendthrift liberal since Tip O'Neil. There needs to be further education on the matter for all the residents and I would say that a full Sunday coverage on the local paper, another hearing, an informal forum, and as much interchange of ideas and debate on the matter is of the utmost importance. Of course at this stage the average home would pay $16-17 per year in tax but opponents point to the possibility that it could rise dramatically in years ahead. A five year projection would be helpful for us to make that decision.

We should ask ourselves whether eliminating all competition in the ambulance field and relying in the last outfit standing would allow for pricing pressures in the future too. All realistic questions should be asked and thoroughly investigated.

So all of these issues need to be debated and discussed, but have unfortunately become fodder for politics and the be-all-end-all of who one will be voting for, nevermind the rest of the budget which has essentially been flat for 2 (going on three years) in the levy in the town. And yes, 50% plus of the general fund budget is policing, so someone tell me when they want to lay off police officers. I doubt anyone will do that. you can only count so many paperclips and turn down the thermostat so much to save a few hundred.

Well thanks for the summation of the issue.. i can "from your post" see that you have much knowledge on this issue.  It's a bit too complicated for someone so new as myself to all this to really have an opinion one way or another, i'll choose to collect more information.

As far as the police go, oddly enough, one way to decrease the cost of police is to employee more!  the overtime kills most counties / state budgets due to under staffing / overtime pay...  Most police i know in Albany County (yes not here) can work basically as many hours as the wish due to the open patrols / positions...

Looks like Joe Suhrada dropped back and punted on this issue.  Using the "put it up for referendum" answer.  That's very diplomatic of Joe.  That doesn't explain away the "save the REMS" on his campaign signs.  How does Joe plan on "saving the REMS" by putting it up for referendum?  Out of one side of his mouth he says Rotterdam is in a dire situation in regards to the REMS.  Now he's willing to leave this dire situation up to the residents.  

What is Joe Suhrada's position?

They are ALL back peddling on this issue. And yes it is a divide between the libs and cons. Obviously....those in favor of taxing us even MORE are the libs.....which consists of s.t., suhr, sigs and march.. It should have not even been brought up for a referendum, again costing the taxpayers. These people were elected to dole out our money responsibly. Creating a tax district and not privatizing something that can be and is available, is totally irresponsible.

If the 4 libs running on 'save rems' get elected, rems will be a slam dunk. That my friends is why it will not be discussed until AFTER the election. And yet the ones running on the dem line are all but silent on the issue, which is even MORE scary! No one has to guess how the NNTP stands on this issue....they have been the only vocal ones in the bunch. So vote NNTP people!!!