HATFIELD — A proposal for South County EMS to charge Hatfield a weekly rate of $9,046 to handle the town’s mutual aid ambulance calls, or close to $38,000 a month, will be discussed at a special Select Board meeting Thursday.
With an average of 22 mutual aid calls a month, that would amount to about $1,700 per call. The board was initially told South County EMS might charge $1,178 per call, up from the current rate of $350.
The 5 p.m. meeting will include South County EMS Chief Tim Drumgool and Whately Select Board Chairman Fred Baron, who also chairs Board of Oversight for South County EMS.
At a brief Select Board meeting last week, members questioned whether the proposal is fair.
Chairman Luke Longstreeth said it gives Hatfield no incentive to pick up any of its own calls, even if the town is able to hire new staff.
After asking whether South County EMS could lower the cost of the first few mutual aid calls it handles each month, Longstreeth described the new proposal as “moving backwards” and said South County EMS appeared to be looking to staff a second 24/7 ambulance on the back of Hatfield.
Board member Ed Jaworski said he would prefer to pay South County EMS a flat per-call rate rather than a cumulative weekly or monthly bill.
Drumgool has said previously that Hatfield has not been following the mutual aid agreement, which calls for Hatfield’s ambulance and South County EMS ambulances to respond to each other’s coverage areas when needed. According to Drumgool, Hatfield has not been making any responses out of town.
Longstreeth observed that four times recently Northampton Fire Department ambulance has come into Hatfield for medical calls, and paying a flat fee to South County EMS would possibly mean double paying for the service.
The discussion is also coming in the context of whether Hatfield would need to have a special Town Meeting this fall to add to the fire and ambulance budget.
Town Administrator Andrew Levine said he doesn’t believe such a meeting would be needed until January.
Levine showed estimates that the town would be close to $52,000 over in fire and ambulance spending if it is able to quickly get the town’s ambulance back to 24/7 service by Jan. 1.
The special Town Meeting could then set the stage for planning for the future of the department and a possible Proposition 2½ tax-cap override that would be needed for the town budget starting July 1.
