Damascus supervisors approve ambulance tax

ELIZABETH LEPRO
Posted 11/28/18

Editor's note: A previous version of this article said that the township paid for part-time EMTs and worker's compensation, and sent out a membership form to households. The Damascus …

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Damascus supervisors approve ambulance tax

Posted

Editor's note: A previous version of this article said that the township paid for part-time EMTs and worker's compensation, and sent out a membership form to households. The Damascus Volunteer Ambulance Corp paid these fees and collected the membership subscriptions. This article has been updated to reflect those changes.

DAMASCUS, TWP. — The Damascus Township Board approved a .1% ambulance tax at its meeting November 19, citing a “critical situation” for emergency services in the area.

The township has not previously taxed homeowners for the ambulance service. The Damascus Volunteer Ambulance Corp has sent out voluntary membership forms for a $35 payment. Those donations brought in about $40,000 a year. “That’s still not enough to sustain the ambulance,” said supervisor Joseph Canfield.

Previously, emergency medical technicians (EMTs) were volunteers. In the last five years, the ambulance corp has had to pay some EMTs for part-time service and workers compensation. A .1% ambulance tax, which will go into effect this spring, will cover those payments as well as operations for the corp in general, supervisors said.

The Damascus Volunteer Ambulance Corp covers most of Damascus Township, along with all of Manchester Township, 60% of Lebanon Township and 20% of Buckingham Township. Though the supervisors were not excited to enact a tax to join other yearly payments, such as fire and road-improvement taxes, they said the alternative is much worse.

“Basically, we have to do this to protect the citizens,” Canfield said, adding that switching to a private ambulance company would be too expensive. “If we don’t have [the tax], then we’re going to have to have... a paid ambulance, and we can’t afford that either.”

A similar situation faced the Tusten Town Board during its budget planning this year. Because the ambulance corp had lost money after the closure of the Narrowsburg Adult Home, Tusten decided to budget $3,500 more toward the ambulance services to avoid privatization.

In other news from the Damascus meeting, the Damascus Township Planning Commission has not been able to meet for two weeks, due to weather and cancellations by its members. Supervisors stressed the importance of those meetings, and asked planning commission head Martin Kunstmann to organize a meeting as soon as possible. “Time is money,” Daniel Rutledge said, concerned for business owners held up by the commission’s schedule.

Zoning officer Ed Lagarenne updated the board on two code violations that have warranted criminal charges, one on Marks Road and one on River Road, where a property owner has twice done roadwork that damaged the surface of the road. The board will also need to amend its floodplain regulations in the zoning ordinance, in order to receive reimbursements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Damascus Twp., ambulance, taxes, EMTs

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