The Village of Great Neck unanimously agreed to move forward this week with the Town of North Hempstead to study the possibility of ambulance services charging residents for calls, saying they believed it could reduce the village’s tax levy.
Currently, village taxpayers subsidize ambulance services other than those provided by the county. Village officials hope to change that scenario in an effort to trim the budget.
“Unfortunately, the way things are going, the cost of ambulance service is going up dramatically and it is adding to the tax burden,” said Village of Great Neck Deputy Mayor Mitchell Beckerman at Tuesday’s regular meeting. “We are looking to make it so we have other ways to take care of things besides just taxes.”
Under the current contract, The Village of Great Neck, with a population of about 9,700, currently pays more than $22 per resident each year for the vigilant ambulance service. The $218,222 annual agreement will expire next year.
Mayor Ralph Kreitzman said the proposed plan would save the village money and allow residents to send ambulance bills to their insurance providers for payment. He said he does not have an answer for the uninsured.
“How are you opting into this without any answer?” asked Great Neck Village resident Victor Habib at the board meeting Tuesday
“Right now, everyone is paying for every ambulance call through their taxes,” said Kreitzman. “We will be able to reduce that charge to all of our residents, their taxes would go down.”
The plan would reduce ambulance costs from the village budget, but it doesn’t necessarily translate into real savings for taxpayers.
“I’m not saying there would be a dollar-for-dollar reduction in the tax,” said Village Clerk John Domisky on Wednesday.
According to the Kreitzman, the vigilant service would be broken up into two sister not-for-profit agencies, one for fire, one for ambulance service.
“The meaningful ramification is that the ambulance company will be entitled to charge and be reimbursed by insurance companies for their services,” Kreitzman said. “It will still be a vigilant company, it will just cost our taxpayers less.”
Kreitzman said he doesn’t have a problem for the “20 percent of those (without insurance) to get an 80 percent reduction in costs to all taxpayers.”
Regardless of the outcome of the study, Dominsky said the village is set on studying idea.
“Whether their is a grant or not, there is a commitment to go forward with this,” he said.
Some at Tuesday’s meeting thought the plan was a good idea.
“Sure, sacrifice the people without money, why not?” said one resident, noting that the proposed procedure might help reduce frivolous ambulance calls.
Village of Great Neck Trustee Mark Birnbaum agreed, noting that a high percentage of the calls are not life-threatening.
“If you don’t charge anybody, anything, then people will continue to use it without deference to cost,” said Birnbaum.
The Town of North Hempstead Town Council will discuss the ambulance service grant proposal at a regular meeting on Dec. 14.
