I am a Rotterdam Taxpayer  and i will always support REMS

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A five year projection would be helpful for us to make that decision.

after which time a local-yokel Joe nextdoor will step up to "take the burden off" for the good of the town and taxpayers......all of which
has already been extorted to help set up a nice competitive business to rival Mohawk........

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ROTTERDAM
REMS gets $120K for 2010 duties
New town board will face ambulance corps status issue
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette.net.

    Town officials have ratified a new contract with the Rotterdam Emergency Medical Services Inc., ensuring that the non-profit ambulance company will have at least another year of funding.
    The contract provides REMS with $120,000 starting in January and is similar to this year’s agreement. Any fuel the ambulance company uses from Rotterdam’s municipal pumps would be subtracted from this amount, according to the contract.
    Joe VanDerwerker, the president of REMS’s Board of Directors, said the contract is enough for the company to sustain itself through 2010. However, he said the level funding won’t allow the ambulance company to start replacing some of its aging equipment.
    For instance, two ambulances are nearly a decade old and are no longer in service, while a third is approaching eight years old. He said most ambulances are taken out of service after five years.
    “It’s a never ending battle with these things,” he said Friday. “We need to start replacing them.”
    Under an ambulance district proposed this year, REMS would receive about $232,527 annually. VanDerwerker said this level of funding would allow the ambulance company to continue paying off its outstanding debts, while maintaining a capital fund for vehicle replacements or other facility repairs.
    Members of the Town Board initially planned to vote on the district via a permissive referendum, which would have allowed them to approve the measure via a majority vote. However, a groundswell of opposition toward the measure in September prompted them to put the matter out to a vote in the town as a whole.
    The all-Republican board failed to schedule a vote on the ambulance district this year. Instead, outgoing Supervisor Steve Tommasone enacted a number of last-minute cuts to ensure there was funding in the 2010 budget for REMS before the board passed the spending plan last month.
    The incoming board — a split between Democrats and Conservatives with one Republican — will be tasked with deciding the fate of the ambulance district. Councilmanelect Robert Godlewski, a Democrat and the soon-to-be-named deputy supervisor, was unsure how the incoming administration of Frank Del Gallo would tackle funding for REMS, or whether it would put the ambulance district up to vote.
    “It would have been nice if the current administration would have invited us into any discussion before they issued that contract,” he said. “They did not.”
    Godlewski also questioned why the outgoing administration didn’t act quicker on the issue and why they seemed content to postpone a decision on the referendum. He said the Republicans had nearly a year to schedule a vote, but waited.
    “The question is why did they drag their feet,” he said. “We’ve inherited a decision that should have been done on their watch.”

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01200&AppName=1

Good old Bob G is complaining that he and his new town board may have to make a hard decision on the REMS issue and it could cost them votes no matter which way they vote. You wanted the job Bob now deal with the issues and the consequences.

Another play from the Obama Playbook ... blame the previous administration.

Bob 'no change' is more than aware and informed when it comes to this rems issue. He has been at town board meetings, where he goes on and on, with 'facts' in hand, actually speaKing out 'against' a taxing district.

And I think it will be very interesting to see how this new administration will handle it. But as far as bob'no change' being kept in the dark about rems is just political BS at best.

maybe if Mr G. pulled some of the FOIL off his head he could see the light.

Being that fdg ran on conservative ideals, I would have to believe that there would not be a taxing district created for rems with this new administration. Also, with fdg being a business owner, I would also have to believe that he would expect rems to be a self sustaining business. But we will see.

Maybe Rotterdam will get the same service that a poor woman in Schenectady got...when she called private party for Mohawk to come because she got
scratched by her cat....turns out it took them "a while" to get there and the woman bled to death because the cat hit a vericose vein....oh and then they
waited 35 minutes to call SFD to help.....AWESOME....can't wait till they come to town!!!

Quoted from Shadow

Good old Bob G is complaining that he and his new town board may have to make a hard decision on the REMS issue and it could cost them votes no matter which way they vote. You wanted the job Bob now deal with the issues and the consequences.

Bob G make a decision are you kidding me....

Well it should be fun to watch him try.

Quoted from thisisawesome

Maybe Rotterdam will get the same service that a poor woman in Schenectady got...when she called private party for Mohawk to come because she got
scratched by her cat....turns out it took them "a while" to get there and the woman bled to death because the cat hit a vericose vein....oh and then they
waited 35 minutes to call SFD to help.....AWESOME....can't wait till they come to town!!!

Maybe the lady was on blood thinners and/or had other medical issues and was 'warned' about getting scratched by her cat/shaving
etc etc.......you know---we can lead a horse to water but we cant make it drink.....

no different than hikers on a mountain that could have avalanches or any number of 'rescues' for the 'healthy'.........

Quoted from thisisawesome

Maybe Rotterdam will get the same service that a poor woman in Schenectady got...when she called private party for Mohawk to come because she got
scratched by her cat....turns out it took them "a while" to get there and the woman bled to death because the cat hit a vericose vein....oh and then they
waited 35 minutes to call SFD to help.....AWESOME....can't wait till they come to town!!!

I think you are missing the point here.

First, I question the validity of the 'bleeding to death' story. I mean really...... I need the details.

Second, I don't think anyone is saying that REMS wouldn't be a good ambulance service. Although they have clearly had their span of down time when Mohawk had to pick up their slack.  People are against a taxing district or our tax dollars to support them. We want them to become a viable, private business just like Mohawk or any of the other private businesses.

Third, I am against tax dollars bailing REMS out from their financial woes. Financial woes that were created by them, due to poor business sense and lack of business responsibility.

We have been told over and over that FDG is a conservative self made businessman. There is no way in hell that he would/should allow tax payers to pay for an ambulance service when there is a private one capable of doing the job WITHOUT costing the taxpayers a dime.  IMHO

FDG stated on Wednesday at the town board meeting that the taxing district would be on the November ballot.

If the taxpayer votes it will be defeated because at this time in history people will not stand for any more tax increases considering that there will be no SS cost of living raise and the cost of medicare will also be raised at the same time the seniors will kill the bill IMHO.