After Antrim Select Board members voted to increase ambulance fees for the town of Bennington by $4,000, representatives of the two towns met to discuss the increase last week at the Bennington Town Office.
Since 2005, Antrim has charged Bennington $8,000 per year in ambulance fees. Bennington recently increased its 2017 ambulance budget to $12,000 to accommodate the rise in cost.
“No one was overly concerned about the $4,000 increase,” said Bennington Town Administrator Denise French.
But, French said, Antrim may not have taken into consideration that Bennington is providing personnel for the ambulance. The town pays hourly rates to those employees, she said.
“You folks are billing for the runs that Bennington people are supplementing,” French said.
Last year, it was estimated that staff from Bennington were in the ambulance on about 45 percent of the calls, although first responders from Antrim said they needed time to look over that number more carefully to see if it’s accurate.
After the meeting, Antrim Select Board Chair John Robertson said the system of sharing personnel is part of a mutual aid agreement, where towns pull staff members from various areas to service calls. He said Bennington isn’t the only town providing staffing services to other towns.
French said that Bennington is not trying to renegotiate the cost increase, but simply attempting to understand it.
The ambulance charge for the town of Bennington hasn’t changed since 2005, French said.
“When we looked at these original numbers they noted we haven’t had a increase for a substantial length of time and there has been a lot of change on the cost side,” Antrim Select Board member Bob Edwards said. “My question was; is it enough?”
Edwards said this will likely be just the first step of other fee increases in the future. Before, and if, that happens the ambulance will have to “drill down” all of the numbers.
“I don’t think anybody is trying to make any money on this thing,” Edwards said. “We are trying to provide a quality service at least so that we’re not losing money.”
Robertson said the ambulance service was losing money before increases were put in place.
Bennington board members said they are considering purchasing their own ambulance as a cost comparison. Ideas about a regional fire and ambulance department were also tossed around during the meeting, although most board members agreed that is a complex conversation for a different time.
Abby Kessler can be reached at 924-7172, ext. 234 or akessler@ledgertranscript.com.