There has been much debate lately about the tax loss that the Lakewood EMS causes our town. Our committeemen are discussing the option of closing down our emergency services department, which has served the residents of our town for over thirty years now. The deadline is approaching, and they will be making their final decision regarding its fate. Ironically this discussion is taking place at a time in history that finds our community in the crosshairs of global terrorism, and extreme weather events due to changes in median temperature. To accept the awesome responsibility to disband our dedicated EMS at such a time, would be the act of a committee that feels it needs to take chances in regard to public safety in order to save money.
How uncharacteristic of our committee, considering what its previous mayor, and senior member, Senator Bob Singer, stated at a recent UEZ meeting. When the issue arose regarding the safety of the outdoor lighting at the Blue Claws stadium, Senator Singer made it very clear that he would not compromise on the safety of the people. The issue regarding the lights is a projected 1.2 million dollar cost to repair lighting poles that seem unsafe. These lighting poles have withstood gale force winds for the last ten years, but on the small chance that one may fall and injure a person or vehicle, the Senator was adamant that the safety of our residents is paramount to any amount of money. He said if the UEZ will not approve the payment, it would have to come from the taxpayer.
How can one be so vocal in regard to safety in one respect, yet not understand the awesome chance we are taking by disbanding our EMS, in regards to the safety of our townspeople, our elderly, and our children. If one person is saved because we kept our experienced EMS, is that not enough?
And our committeemen never even felt it was worth the time to figure out other options to fund the cost of keeping our EMS.
The following is an evaluation of our EMS made by the state a few years ago.
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES
The department appears to be well managed, organized, flexible, and responsive. Cooperative working relationships with the volunteer First Aid Squad and Emergency Squad are evident, and have proved to be beneficial to the community.
Considering the value the reviewers saw in keeping the EMS, the review board made some observations regarding losses in revenue, and possible solutions to remedy these problems.
It is not possible to achieve full collection because: certain third party payors pay less than what is billed; clients cannot always afford co-payment amounts; and the New Jersey Department of Insurance has set a monetary limit on ambulance base rate collection from private payors related to auto accidents. With increasing public familiarity and acceptance of the program over the next few years, it can be expected that the current collection rate will improve. It is recommended that, residents be notified that
beginning in June, collection will be enforced to a greater extent. Each invoice should clearly state the expectation of payment. If a third letter is required, it might best be sent by the Township Attorney suggesting the possibility of involving a collection agency in continuing non-payment situations. With greater emphasis on the collection process, an increase in revenues can be expected.
The review board made more suggestions that would make the EMS, already an integral service, profitable as well. It suggested implementing an Ambulance Subscription Plan.
This is a concept in use in various states, including Arizona and Florida. The Medical Transportation Association of New Jersey in Toms River reports that an estimated ten New Jersey municipalities have adopted this type of plan, including Bayonne, Old Bridge and part of Trenton.
Under this plan, households are invited, with municipality sponsorship, to subscribe to a basic life support ambulance service for $35 per year (in today’s dollars, $65), while making their insurance available for EMS billing. In return, the beneficiary household will not be billed for usage.
Their recommendation was as follows:
It is strongly recommended that the township explore this program further. It would provide a pool of money up front that could be invested to offset the currently un-reimbursed costs. The value would depend on the level of subscription, but at a relatively modest 20% participation rate, the township would realize a healthy amount of money. Considering the recent support of the seniors, and many other citizens, the current participation would most certainly be significantly higher.
In summation, we see clearly that the benefits of having the EMS far outweigh any possible losses, and any losses can be prevented through smart planning, and negotiations.
There are many other areas the committee could have chosen to cut costs. There are options to combine government departments, share services with other towns, trim waste. All of these will be discussed in the future. The only reason I can see that our committee decided to cut costs by disbanding the EMS, is that EMS workers have no political pull or power. They do not represent any special interest voting block, nor do they control projects that need special favors, nor approvals.
I hope our leaders will reconsider this folly that they are foisting on the people of our fine town. The false concern they portray regarding saving the taxpayer money, while putting our residents in harms way, is mere lip service, and insulting.
The time has come to show our leaders that they were put into power to protect, and serve, us, first, and foremost.
They are not closing it down! they are privatizing it.. dont worry so much. when you call 911 someone WILL answer the phone!
FINALLY! Someone speaks the truth.
Keep our EMS. We love them. They do a terrific job and take care of our residents with care and devotion.
I shudder to think what kind of service our town would get if our EMS was to be disbanded.
EMS! EMS! EMS!
Go lakewood
FINALLY! Someone speaks the truth.
we love our EMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kim get a life!!!!!!!!!!!
we love our current EMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
EMS take care of our residents with care and devotion.
I love OUR EMS.
I thought you were a toradick jew.
I was taught to believe that one is not allowed to take chances with human life. Shame on you kim.
You always seem to take the opposite point of view.
You are so sad.
Privatize garbage not people. If they mess up garbage pickup who cares. Mess up people pickup? There will be deaths. Why take a chance for such a thing? This essay is right on the money.
don’t forget to cut salaries too!
I love my team. But we will take keeping EMS over that stadium any day. We seniors are not going to forget about this in the next election. Pretending you care about the senior citizen is not the same as actually caring. This is totally unacceptable.
The senior communities are a part of this town. We need the EMS to stay as is!
Someone WILL answer?
WILL they show up on time?
WILL they know what to do?
WILL they be familiar with the needs of the different types of people in our diverse town?
WILL you ever stop posting stupid comments? Go back to following hershel.
how come someone can come up with a brilliant plan like this to save the EMS (a vital part of our town) but no school will step up and save another school in our heilige town. Priorities? Both are vital to our town! BIG chilul Hashem!
is there any govt run facility that is run better than a privatized one? not a chance we will only save money and probably have better service. they should probably privatize the whole govt it will save everyone alot of money
Ok SOS. EMS gets funded publicly. Schools are a private biz. When u can find a way for every household to pay $$$$ to save the day school then you can compare.
You lost me at “extreme weather events due to changes in median temperature.”… stick to the local political shenanigans, leave the global lies to the expert global scheme artists, i.e. Al Gore.
To 11 If a private company doesn’t show up on time we can and will fire them! If the gov doesn’t show up on time then what will you do???
PS define stupid.
There is no way to know that privatization will work as well as our current system, that has been in place for 30 years.
How many lives will be jeopardized in the time it takes for a private company to learn the ropes.
Stop being so blase with a human being’s life.
Exactly. A private company is run better than a govt agency to make a profit. That is why we need certain things in our lives run by govt. Because they are too important to leave to a profit minded corporation.
Stop spouting your Rush Limbaugh free enterprise economic theories regarding the subject of the lives of our citizens. Bob singer is a perfect example of showing fake caring when the mood suits him. But he will throw us under the train to get what he wants.
blah blah blah, you know what pigul is? ovar zmano….batul korbono. this ship has sailed. no one will be any worse off, this is a win win win. even the EMS ppl will land jobs, if they want them.
I have been a resident of this town most of my life that is around 40 yrs. I am an emergency services worker, which means I talk to these EMS workers on a daily basis, I know most of them personally. What I can say is that if you privatize, the response times will be longer, the experience will diminish, the personable teams will disappear, and being billed by a private service will be astronomical. I have heard some private companies bill per vehicle. If you need an ambulance it can cost you upwards of $750, if you need another service like medics that can cost you upwards of $1500. A longtime friend of mine had that happen to him. Although, he was billed for the services, the medics billed him again for their services $1500, for asking him how he was feeling. Now I am not complaining about the medics by no means they also have a hard job. BUT If you call for an ambulance and Lakewood goes private, and the response time goes up from what it is now to a possible 10 minutes more, who will you blame? You will call lakewood pd or 911 and complain that the ambulance is not there..they don’t control the drivers, it would be the private service and that is a whole other mess, they may have to go thru a private service dispatch, and that takes time away from the call..Lakewood has a great dispatch team. The work endlessly round the clock, with the Police, Fire and EMS to make sure the town is kept on track. The response times are 4-7 minutes from dispatch time, to arrival on scene. Very professional for all involved. That is phenominal. All I can say is this..Disbanding Lakewood EMS would be a great loss not only to the town but to the Firefighters, and Police officers here. They do their jobs well and expect that someone (Lakewood EMS) will be there to help them when they need them. ALL IN ALL I believe Lakewood EMS is one of the best teams in the area. KEEP LAKEWOOD EMS!!! your life may depend on them someday.
There is no way to know that it Won’t work.
It’s not going away; it is just going to be run privately.
Why doesn’t the Union accept a salary cut? They are out for themselves and nothing else.
If it’s so important for them to stay on, then take a pay cut, but no, that is not accepted either. So now you made your bed, sleep in it.
This is just showing corruption at its finest. One day this town will have someone running that actually cares about the citizens of it and not lining their pockets.. Cant wait for the next election.. Our mayor is here because his friends decided he deserved it. I dont remember voting him in as Mayor. This town is so wrong and it needs to stop and change, not just because of this EMS situation but many others. Our money is going to replacing lights in the Blue Claws parking lot, how about they pay for it since they only pay $29,000 a YEAR. what a bargain, but lets put out more money to fund them with useless repairs. I hope light is brought to the attention of everyone of what is going on here.. Herschel wouldnt let this happen..
I thank all above who can see the truth unfolding in our town. Graft, greed & corruption.
We need EMS
The three places that should never be cut are Police, Fire and EMT’s. Especially in a town that will soon be a city!
The EMS should be saved but it is a pointless fight at this time, the board made its decission right from the start. They have no intention on saving the EMS they only have self serving interest in privatizing.
To 8:25am
That would be 25,000 dollars a year. 29,000 was the number originally written in the yearly budget report. I can only guess that the number was so arbitrary and meaningless, that they didn’t even bother to check the amount before prining the budget report.
There is a famous theory in forensic accounting. It looks for similar numbers in regards to finding cheating, and corruption. Accountants look for similarities in reported figures. There are reasons that certain similar numbers repeat themselves constantly.
Public works building-26 million.
BC stadium-23 million.
Newly proposed municipal building-25 million.
Pulling the wool over our eyes-PRICELESS.
We need to make it very clear what our(all humans of Lakewoods) needs are. What do we want? Ask questions of our committeemen, demand some answers, expect solutions. Ask our leaders why a newly proposed 25 million dollar municipal building is necessary. Whom would it benefit?
Is there any reason to build a state of the art courhouse? Is there a lack of space in our tax assessors office? Does an increase in taxes also warrant a new, larger office space for our tax collector?
Do our committeemen bring us so many revenue producing ideas to warrant sparkling new offices?
The current building is perfectly sufficient. There are no space issues that I can see. There are no crumbling walls, or gangs of rats trolling the hallways. No leeching of asbestos, formeldahyde, or ghosts in supply closets, to allow for such an extravagance, that benefits only those lucky enough to get the construction contracts. The EMS debacle, is just another example of not caring about the needs of the entire populace. How can one quantify the value of a senior citizen feeling safe? They are responsible for a large portion of our tax base, yet get very little in return. If they feel that the EMS is integral to their safety, they should not be ignored.
The above report was written by a state auditor. They understood the value of the EMS. They gave ideas to make it financially solvent. Our committeemen ignore those ideas, even though the people that voted them in to power strongly protest.
I am sure we will see a counterpoint soon with hard numbers, facts and figures galore. I do not dispute many of them, and I agree the EMS should be somewhat flexible with their union contract negotiations. Nevertheless, as far as I know, they are willing to negotiate, and are dedicated to their jobs, and the people of Lakewood. We should be able to work this out to keep all citizens of Lakewood safe, and the taxpayers happy that their money is being spent wisely, for all.
To climate change.
The reason that median temperature change was used instead of “global warming” was specifically to avoid discussing the validity of overall climate change. The fact that we are experiencing more and more extreme weather events each year, cannot be ignored. Call it whatever you wish. There are many times a year that our town is in harms way. We should not be squandering a resource like our EMS department at this time, when we have the ability to make it financially feasible, with minimal effort on our part.
who is harold herskowits? not another one! are they twins? secret superhero alter ego? look up in the sky…its namblaman. saving people who dont need it in a single blog. what a crock. take on a new issue. also why are you defending an anonymous post with explanations of global warming? are you the only one who understands these issues? dont sean hannity, glen beck and the whole right wing understand it? hmmm?
If you privatize garbage, you will have to pay the private carting company like out neighbors in Jackson and Howell. Good luck with bulk pickup. Good luck with moving snow. And don’t think your taxes are going down, they will just use it somewhere else.
To #16 Kim, if the private shows up too late, then it’s already too late to fire them. They will just move that person out and put someone else in. What happens when the private company does not turn a profit and no one bids on the job or now the town has to pay a retainer fee for a private company to come here? Then you loose all control of the costs.
Take the lightposts down and don’t have night games. I can’t believe light posts are ready to fall down already after only 9 years! Who got this job? The same one that is going to fix it?
#12, how do you know what concessions were made by the EMS personell?
I don’t see the Township Committee members taking any kind of cut in their almost $30,000 a year part time salaries, plus pension, plus medical benefits.
#22, you or I did not vote him in as Mayor, however we have the Faulkner form of government in Lakewood and the Mayor is appointed by the other committeemen.
#26, I don’t think we need a new Town hall either, but maybe they should look at moving the Police Department over to the Cedar Bridge area. That would make room at town hall to move the Inspection Department over to town hall allowing that building to be demolished form more parking. The large number of police department cars and employees cars would also be out of the municipal lot freeing up parking space for customers to downtown. You could leave a police sub-substation at the current location. You could probably leave the court at it’s current location also because the holding cells are there.
to # 10,what vote? in lakewood your vote dont count