Lakewood EMS To Be Privatized

ems uez ambulanceNo one will dispute that these are extremely tough economic times. Individuals as well as residents are looking to cut budgets to save money. In an effort to cut costs, Lakewood Township has decided that that it can save the taxpayers $800 thousand dollars a year by privatizing the Township’s EMS (Emergency Medical Services). According to Steven Langert, Deputy Mayor of Lakewood, in 2008, the Township had to subsidize the EMS by $777 thousand.  By privatizing these services, Lakewood will not only save between $800 thousand to one million dollars a year, the residents will realize increased coverage and services, with no change to current billing practices.
“No one should be concerned, especially our senior residents.  One of the companies we are dealing with,” says Langert, “has promised same billing practices; and the same, if not better services, at no cost to the town.”
Currently the township has two ambulances that provide services to more than 60,000 residents in 25-square miles.  With the privatization of EMS, three ambulances will be available to residents.

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70 COMMENTS

  2. Are you crazy?!? I think I’d first worry about my taxes than someone elses job!! A million dollars a year is a small fortune to be able to save in such a tough economy especialy when this is just one way of saving money. Obviously the town is looking for ways to save.

  7. “According to Steven Langert, Deputy Mayor of Lakewood, in 2008, the Township had to subsidize the EMS by $777 thousand.”…………”One of the companies we are dealing with,” says Langert, “has promised same billing practices;”

    Huh? Either the company or Langert is lying.With the added cost of a third ambulance and the loss of subsidies from the township I don’t see how the rates aren’t going to be jacked up.

  9. mimah nefshach if there’s a reason why an investor would like to invest must be it’s profitable. so why can’t the twp earn the profit? where was the profit going until now? why did the twp have to subsidize it? are there other twps with private ems?

  12. what the problem: the township is runing a whole corp. with 2 ambulace’s it cost the for everything ! they can’t shift emt’s around . the have have staff so that if some doent come in there a back up they need there own dispach. BUt. a commpany that has allready 30 ambulance (like qulity or gem & they add on 3 more ….there is no more over head they have evrything already ! (even a competitive billing system!) in place

  15. By privatizing and going with a paid service, you will not only save money, but you will put highly trained and qualified people out of work and replace them with underpaid and overworked employees. This will in turn lower the quality of care given to the residents of the township. Furthermore, all of the township EMS employees are sensitive to the needs of the religious community. Taken these factors in consideration, the old addage is true, “You get what you pay for”. Please support these fine men and women that put their lives on the line for the residents of Lakewood. Do Not Let the Township close the EMS department. Let your voices be heard. Call your township committee and mayor and let them know you don’t want quality of care comprimised to save money.

  16. Whats next, Privatzing the Fire Department, The Police Department? These are all essential to the safe operation to this town. The EMS and the FD are the only places in this town where I have ever seen the people of this town come together for a common cause. There are those of all backgrounds involved with each. And, why does this not effect the Hatzolah? The town EMS also responds to calls where the Jewish people are involved, because the Jewish people are involved in the EMS. I work side by side with a Jewish man od the FD, and we are like brothers. I feel this is not the right step for this town.

  17. Need to save money? No more schools in the industrial park. No more giving away land that can later be sold for millions. No more tax abatements. Collect unpaid taxes (millions of $) from various businesses in the town. Stop all the absentee slum landlords from costing the town money through extra police service, extra public works garbage pick ups, and illegal subletting… Yeah, I’m sure the EMS was just draining the town. I’ve lived in this town for 40 years and worked here for 25 years, don’t sell me this nonsense ’cause I’m not buying it.

  19. If this is such a great deal, why did brick go from a private service to a town run service? Going with a private service may not be the best choice. Mike you were once one of these “under qualified” EMT’s or have you forgotten your roots? When you have a town that I will guess has more people in it without healthcare coverage than that have it you will always struggle to makes your needs. How long do you think one of these private companies will do these before thay get tired of losing money

  20. To #2 who wrote “Obviously the town is looking for ways to save.”

    The town COULD have a LOT of money. There was a nursing home for seniors on Rt. 9 near the hospital that was evaluated at $6.2 Million. Lots of warehouses in the industrial park worth about $1 to 3 Million each. Many private “homes” worth $100s of thousands total. All of these were turned into TAX EXEMPT schools. Think of all the taxes Lakewood could collect if these buildings were not TAX EXEMPT.

  22. i heard officer butterworth recently cancelled his medical benefits to save the town money, i hope other officers can make sacrifices like officer butterworth has in order to help save OUR town money!!!!

  27. #20 – Perhaps the children being educated in those schools should be enrolled en masse in the public school system. I wonder what would happen to your property taxes then?

  28. If you want to save the tax payers money then STOP!
    1. Giving away Township owned land for a dollar.
    2. Stop allowing schools that are tax except to be run from the industrial park.
    3. Purchasing $300,000 Garbage Trucks.
    4. Busing school children 2 blocks.
    5. Building gathering zones for day workers that no one uses three miles from Town.
    6. Cut Township committee members health plans.

  29. How to save money???
    How about a true school zone. take all of the private schools out of the industrial park and put business back in where it belongs.(Who in their right mind lets someone put children next store to the manufacturing plants that have large containers of volatile chemicals both in and outside of a plant used to make products )

    How about garbage pick up for home owners only – down size Public works. Let the land lords who rotate their renters on a monthly basis get their own garbage pick up when they leave a mountain of garbage at the curb( all the trash the old tenants left on County Line road in the last week- looks real good)

    How about an unpaid day off every month for all township employee’s such as the State of NJ has done with their workers-

    Do the senior communities know their not going to have a first responder unit close by to possibly save a life?

    building more homes will not bring in enough taxes to offset this mess. it will only increase our problems- how long did it take today to get from point A to point B in town- in a few years add 15 minutes more to your trip. Plus your taxes increase by 25% -prove me otherwise, Let history be my guide!

    Oh -another thought -We need those cameras that Bricktown are planning to install on the traffic lights too –just think of all the ticket money it would bring in to off set the cost of our police force

    The lack of billing money to of set the cost of the EMS is a byproduct of the poor economy and the large influx of renters who have no insurance and a burden to our health systems when they use the hospital as a doctors office for minor illness and the EMS rig as a free taxi -look no farther than Kimball and its parent company looking to dump the hospital because of all its charity care. Do you think it will be any different for a private EMS company – givem two years and they’ll be gone

    A CAMERA ON EVERY TRAFFIC LIGHT -VIOLATORS BEWARE$$$$$ A WIN WIN for Lakewood tax payers.

  30. I’ve lived in the town for over 30 years and have seen the changes. The COURTESY busing is a big deal and a sore subject. I have always felt that the children needed to get to school safely, since there was a lack of sidewalks and traffic lights. However, traffic lights have been installed and sidewalks are and have been laid.

    I had a car accident with an Orthodox man in an Orthodox neighborhood. The guy jumped out of the car checked his car there was little to no damage. I guess he saw I was a gentile and had insurance. Lo and behold…Hatzalah arrived on the scene for him and carted him off in a neck brace in strectcher etc. Meanwhile their EMT’s serviced him and Lakewood finally arrived on the scene for me…Needless to say, my insurance company had a ball with that one. The guy “lives” in NY but for some reason was ALWAYS here…

    The accident happened because he began to move when light changed but a random person flagged him down for a ride he stopped short.

  31. Mike to #19, yes I worked for a paid private service, however, I worked part time for the Twp EMS Dept. I worked with many people there and would trust them with my life. The Twp EMTs are provided with better equipment, training opportunities, and education. They service the citizens of Lakewood Township. They provide only emergency medical services, not medical transportations to and from doctors and nursing homes. These people’s skills are much more honed than that of a transport EMT. There are other ways of saving money, than by cutting services of the EMS DEPT.

  32. Same things gonna happen with privatetizing the EMS as did when they privatetized our school busing. That endeaver wasnt going to cost us nothing also…….SMOKE & MIRRORS……GOOD job senator selling ur sole to hold on to ur seat while all of us who supported u allways get the. Boot whos next the police & fire departments? And u brag about how hugh this township will become. I need to know whos gonna be paying your towns taxes ? It wont be me I already bailed out from ur night mare of a town.
    Kudos 2 a job not well done mayors

  34. Why are all you people getting carried away with the tax exempt school a law is a law and it don’t make a difference where the school is industrial park river ave they now are all legitimate tax exempt properties no different than any other city in the state that have private schools within them
    Not that I think that this is the big money clincher but look at Jackson they switched to a private company (quality ambulance company)and they are making money the difference in wages that the private company’s pay verses the townships is astronomical the only reason a township would do it is bec it looks good for them or they are rolling in extra dow

  35. you gatta be crazy to think its a good idea to a company like quality or monoc here. Most of their experiance is picking up people from a hospital and transporting them to anothher. They have little experiance with 911 emergencies and they dont compare to the years of experiance that the lakewood emts have. They are known as the top emts in jersey and the seniors all know them and trust them. Is quality going to drive around all the villages and look around and see if anyone neeeds help. Most people dont know how many times the guys in the car roll up on someone who are having a heart attack or maybe not breathing. It happens and it happens more then you think. Yeh it prob cost the town money but when it comes to peoples lives its not where we should try and save. Oh and by the way the fire department gets about 3 million a year of our tax money that goes towards new trucks and equipment but it also goes towards buying them new buildings . why cant they find away to put some money towards the ems department. That is an exorbent amount of money for the fire department. We need to care about the seniors in this town. We have Hatzolah but emagine we didnt, would we all be saying get rid of the ems department i dont think so. Not to mention that some of these guys have put in 10-20 years of sevice for this town.

  36. hey guys those warehouses in industrial park were sitting empty, along with all of the thousands of empty warehouses throughout NJ, If you think you can fill them be my guest there are about another 10 more EMPTY warehouses in Industrial park. Does it really bother you that schools are there at all? When we try to build schools in residentail areas , people like you Scream and yell, when we build them in industrial park they scream and yell, where would you like us to go? I sense some racial undertones in your posts. If JEWS really bother you, you dont have to stay here, it is a free country.and yes I am a business owner and pay lots of taxes as do 99% of business owners here in Lakewood.

    and the slumlords as you call them , actually are tax payers who pay lots of taxes, the majority of our tax money is going to BOE about 75% thats where we should cut out, its the illegal nontax paying that are draining every city

  37. “… with no change to current billing practices”

    sheker vechozov! they may have promsed in order to get the bid but they most certainly will send bills to collection agencies!

    did you know it costs your inurance co. 800 to transport a patient to the er…

  38. To the editor/moderator, for I don’t know how else to contact you. No need to post this. All I would like to ask for is an explanation why any comment I write that hints of anything to do with the 9 million dollars Sommerset paid to BMG/Educational Endowment Fund for the Pine River parcel, when Sommerset also paid $10 to the township for it, IS ALWAYS moderated out? These are very real and legitimate and provable facts, not an opinion. It’s not a lie, the documentation is there. Please, please explain to me your reason for always disapproving those comments.

  39. Gosh, you guys are really on the fast track!! You post a story at 5:29pm, 2 hours prior to the Township Committee’s Meeting at 7:30pm

    Which birdie whispered in your ears?

    Yet, several weeks have gone by and there was no mention that the town would have been in “bankruptcy”, thanks to the tax appeals being so successful. We, the taxpayers, who did not file a tax appeal, will now have to pick up that tab for the next 4 years in an emergency bond, due to loss of anticipated tax revenue, while paying our current tax liability, while you get your refunds.

  40. Trying to save money? Maybe sell some of your brand new garbage trucks, or maybe stop buying brand new trucks every year for public works. Maybe stop buying new toys for Mr. Franklin every year. Maybe stop spending 30 million dollars on public works arena. Maybe privatized public works to Waste Management!
    Mr. Langert, your priorities are extremely screwed up! If your trying to be recognized as someone who did something worthwhile for the TWP then I’d recommend you start working hard… But please stop bothering the EMS Department!

  41. I hope GEM wins the bid. The owner R’Yankel Is a tzaddik, how many families he help$ and the good that he does. May Hkb”h bentch him and his family. A neighbor from Whispering

  43. THIS IS INSANE, HOW CAN THE TOWNSHIP JUSTIFY LIFE SAFETY JUST TO SAVE A FEW DOLLARS? WHO WILL BE NEXT THE FIRE DEPARTMENT? I’M QUITE SURE THERE ARE OTHER WAYS OF SAVING WHICH WOULD NOT PUT THE LIVES OF RESIDENTS AT RISK. MANY YEARS AGO THE SAME THING WAS DONE WITH THE SCHOOL BUSSING AND IT TURNED OUT TO BE A FEASCO. IVE SEEN MANY OF THE PRIVATE CONTRACTOR EMS SERVICES AND ONE ON PROSPECT ST., I WOULDNT TRUST THEM WITH MY LIFE, OFFICE IS A MESS AND MANY OF THE EMPLOYEES LOOK LIKE SOMETHING THE CAT DRAGGED IN. LANGERT AND COMPANY REALLY OUGHT TO RETHINK THEIR POSITION ON THIS WHOLE THING, LANGERT FOR MAYOR….NEBACH

  44. TO NUMBER 35.. Tell us that all the new houses that have gone up and are going up ( single family homes, well they are suppose to be anyway) are not tax exempt????? Every one of them have their own private basement entrances with oversized e-gress basement windows. These home are all classified as “schools or dorms”.

    You think the “gentiles’ are blind? Singer isn’t even mayor!!!! Our “friends” in black are running the town. Explain to the rest of us why there is ALWAYS garbage piled up in front of your rental properties every month??? Its because the tenents either get kicked out or move faster then a full moon cycle. Its disgusting to drive through Lakewood. The county dump looks better then Lakewood.

    And last, why dont YOU move?? You must be a comedian to tell a person that has roots here longer then your jackets to move out of town. How about this, I notice Echo Lake Park in Howell is now being consumed by the Jews, How about you guys start paying some REAL taxes a build a few parks in Lakewood instead of more schools and so called “homes”. By the way, al lyou guys with NEW YORK plates on your cars but actually live in NEW JERSEY. Do the right thing and change your plates over to NJ and pay some real money.

    Prove to all of us outsiders, that we are wrong.

  45. i am at a loss that such a diverse population. would attack the wonderful highly experienced employees of the Lakewood EMS Dept like this. 1st they respond to all calls without predjuice and judgement 24/7. no holidays off !!!!. 2nd the EMS Dept has gone out of its way to accomidate the orthodox community needs and beliefs. the fact that the council wants to close this VERY important dept is insane.. the EMS Dept is the only one to be bringing in money for the twp. how funny that not in any article this has been brought out!!!! the twp needs to stop giving property away by the acre for free to be inturn sold at huge profits. stop free garbage collection for businesses. suspend purchasing for all Depts except essental items fuel,repairs etc. in all the EMS has been the 1 and only target for cuts. by the mayor and council…

  46. If you want the fire dept to help out. We can start billing for the false alarms (it is already a law we can do). Then give that money to the EMS. Or if they try to close the FD we will start for ourselves. If the EMS is not getting paid now how would a private company get paid. Would the town have to pay the difference? Lakewood look other places to save money. Is the dollar worth more than a life? I think not. If you say 99% of the home owners pay taxs why is there a loss? Oh I get it you are a govt. official when you say 99% of the owners pay taxs you mean when they go to the store and pay sales tax. (not a lie).

  47. THIS TOWNSHIP COMM. SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES,FOR YEARS THEY HAVE GIVEN LAND AWAY FOR NOTHING,THEY HAVE COURTESY BUSING FOR PRIVATE SCHOOLS 11:OO AT NIGHT,THEY HAVE COURTESY GARBAGE PICKUP FOR PRIVATE SCHOOLS,THEY HAVE GIVEN HOW MANY TAX BREAKS IN THIS TOWN FOR LAND,LAKEWOOD IS AN EMBARRASSMENT,THE ARM PIT OF OCEAN COUNTY AND IF THIS GOES THROUGH WILL CONTINUE TO BE FOR MANY MANY YEARS.FOR EVERYONE WHO LIVES IN THE TOWN OR HAS FAMILY IN TOWN I HOPE TO GOD YOU OR YOUR FAMILY MEMBER DO NOT HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY BECAUSE BY THE TIME A PRIVATE COMPANY FINDS WHERE THE STREET IS, IS ABLE TO LOCATE YOUR HOUSE,AND EVENTUALLY GETS THERE (PROBABLY WILL BE MIN. 30 MINUTES) YOU OR YOUR FAMILY MEMBER MAY NOT BE ON THIS EARTH ANYMORE.HAS THE COMMITTEE TAKEN A HARD LOOK AT THEMSELVES IN THE MIRROR,BECAUSE IF THEY HAVE THEY SHOULD BE ASHAMED.HAVE THEY THOUGHT OF THE PUBLIC WORKS BUILDINGS THAT THEY BUILT AND WENT OVER BUDGET BY 15 MILLION $’S,IF ONLY PEOPLE ACTUALLY KNEW HOW MUCH MONEY THIS TOWN HAS WASTED,DO WE REMEMBER THE 35,000 THAT WAS GIVEN TO THE REV JIMMY WILCOX,WHAT DID HE DO AGAIN?

  48. To – #29 – OLD GOYIM BILLY says:
    “…How about a true school zone. take all of the private schools out of the industrial park and put business back in where it belongs…”

    A few years ago Lakewood offered the Orthodox a piece of land to build ALL their schools on. One way this would have saved money is by not having almost empty school buses running all over town dropping kids off at different schools. The offer was refused.

  49. My question is who is going to pay the winning bidder for their sevices? Am I suppose to believe that they will drive into my town hang around 24-7 reponding to medical and accident calls all at the cost of the persons in distress. And not worry that when the winning bidder doesn’t get paid in time or if at all that services rendered won’t be impeded? A great majority of the demographics emcompassing the town is either on fixed income/ tax paying home owners,uninsured,destituted and living in “homeless camps” or are in some “quality of life” state assisted program.There are so many variables that the public has the right to know up front before cheering on the GREAT Steve L. though the committee people have the responsibility of making some hard nose disicisions for the good of LAKEWOOD TWNSP. they who are in power also loose sight of the BIG PICTURE in order to forfill they’re personal agendas. Last nights meeting it was broadcasted that the twnsp EMS ran in the red at 3/4 of a million dollars this year. Those monies could easily be adjusted by shortening budgets from other resources. EMS has always been the back bone to any of the twnsps services they are there in force at any time there is a crisis in the town. They are more valuable than the fire department yet get nothing close to a budget that the fire department recieves. It was stated last night that the committee wont talk to the EMS because their union. Really? the same union as the fire department? than Steve L why not move some of that monies from the budget to shore up that EMS budget gap? or better yet like most surrounding towns are doing paint Lakewood Police Dept. on the side of the ambulances? or simply gel the fire and first aide into one unit. At least then there might it make sense as to why my tax dollars are paying for fantastic land scapes that are maintained by out side contractors which should be maintained by public works (oh but their too busy beautifing the philadelpia Blue Claws stadium) the fire department boast about all over the township. of their beautiful empty buildings. At least seeing a visible force like EMS running out of these empty well kept beautiful township propertys I could feel better as to why money is being spent for a better lawn than I could find in my development. a couple of months ago the committee had put the police on notice as to laying off officers those who make less than than the average six figure cops do. Listen steve, Bob,Meir,and the rest of yous force out those cops who are past their pention retirement due dates and the town will save exorbitant amounts of money thus saving lives of those employed for EMS and those who need EMS. As for public works services though they do a fine job serving the community Unless its cold and snowing , the amounts of monies spent alone is infuriating to us who watch them manicure that ball stadium and maintaining all that free land given away to real estate developers who out right stole taxables from right under our tax paying noses to do nothing with all that property. Well Done Mayor Singer I’m so happy that worked out well for us. I can’t wait to see the payoffs from your great plans with our airport too. I feel blessed at the moment for knowing that the committees savvy business sense is paying off for Lakewood. Ok back to reality…Please don’t entertain this motion to dissolve the Twnsps EMS services they are an invaluable asset for the community. There are so many ways of saving monies not by cutting out the services of EMS paid sector but by evolving the EMS paid sector.
    Private services for school buses were suppose to save tax payers millions now from the time the twnsp. got rid of the buses to present day HOW MUCH MORE DO I PAY FOR B.O.E. TAXES???
    the writings on the wall private ambulance service will KILL US ALL!

  50. WHAT I WANNA KNOW IS THIS, WHY WHEN ALL THESE NEW HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS GO UP IN LAKEWOOD FOR OUR PENGUIN FRIENDS THEY DO NOT ADVERTISE ANY OF THESE PLACES TO WHITES, BLACKS, ASIANS, HISPANIC, RUSSIAN, POLISH ETC, ETC, ETC TO BUY OR RENT????????

    IT SEEMS TO BE A PURE EXAMPLE OF DISCRIMINATION!!!!!!.

    THATS RIGHT, DISCRIMINATION. EXPLAIN THIS TO ALL OF THE PEOPLE THAT ARE NOT ORTHODOX OR HASSIDIC, WHY YOU WILL NOT SELL OR RENT ANY OF THESE HOMES

    I WAN’T TO BUY A HOUSE IN THAT NEW DEVOLOPMENT. I WAN’T TO BUY. WHERE CAN I GET INFORMATION???

  51. Just so everyone realizes the FD gets tax money separate from the township, about 1% of the base which equals to about 4 MILLION DOLLARS or more a year. No wonder they constantly buy new fire trucks for a million a pop, and are fixing over every fire house in the town. Have you ever been in one, go chech it out, see what your fire tax dollars are getting you. gorgous new wood flooring, carpet, and furniture, they look fancier inside and out than most new homes in this town. The board of fire commisioners have to spend the money otherwise they have to give it back as a tax refund to residents. So thats why they buy and build otherwise next year ppl will say hey you dont need that much money.

  52. Why do all the “outsiders” in their rants keep railing about NY license plates?
    What about the thousands of PA plates and north carolina for that matter.
    I have a small feeling its not about NY plates as much as the “hasids”who are inside the car who are bothering them more than illegal aliens.and. ” those people”should go back to new york.

  53. You can try and hide things from the public, You can continue to treat us gentiles wrong, but we ALL have to answer to GOD. From him nothing can be hidden, remember what happened in the book of Jeremiah when the jews turned from God, you cannot continue to treat the gentiles of lakewood as if they are dirt. For the OLD TESTEMENT SAYS,” But the stranger who dwells with you shall be to you as one born among you; and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” Let us ALL start doing the right thing and share this town as humans.

  54. How many of these discrimination houses do you want to buy .You can buy as many as you want . If you are crazy enough to buy a house in Lakewood that is desigb=ned for a large family ,and one that you can buy for 100,000 less in a nearby non Jewish area ,then go ahead and I guarantee you that trhe builder will welcome your money . Thje housing market in general is dead and the only people buying ,( at least a litlle ) are the Jews in Lakewood because they have npo choice as they need to be walking distance to their house of worship and have large families . So why would a Builder advertise to sell to the general public who is not buying at all ,and even when they were buying ,they were not buying these type of houses in Lakewood ,when they can get a nicer house for cheaper in a non Jewish area .

    Your comment is classic stereotyping and racist .

  55. Thank you for looking to save money to the township! I’m tired of these high taxes and this looks like an ideal way to do it. Does anyone really think our overpaid municpal EMS employees are better qualified than private EMS companies? They have to have the same certification!

    We have too many government employees in this country. Has anyone looked at the employment reports? The only one hiring is the government! If this will result in a lower increase to my taxes, GO FOR IT!

    All of you people wining about your taxes, but when it comes to changing or reducing services, you say no. Then don’t complain about high taxes!

  57. Wise man –

    Why don’t you go back to *********.com and you can find more sympathy for your anti semetic perceptions among your fellow knuckle-dragging neathanderal degenerates.

  59. Do you actually think that a recent EMT graduates hired by ALL outside companys have the same experience as a 10-30 year veteran. Many of the EMS employees are Paramedics as well, you cant compare the two. Yes they both have “the card” of certification that allows them to be EMT’s but thats where it ends.

  61. To Tony Soprano and Not and FD fan:
    This us against them posturing is out of place. Why does the need to cut spending become equal to “The jews against the gentiles”? We are all in the same boat and Tony, if we lose the EMS it will be EVERYONE’s loss, especially the jews who make up more than 50% of the local population and who have great appreciation for Scott Carter and his team. On the other hand, the committee is finally showing some guts to make hard uncomfortable decisions that prior administrations didn’t have the courage to make – they preferred to raid the surplus to hide the tax increases. Well, the piper is knocking and he wants to get paid. We have to make some choices and I encourage the committee to do everything to explore keeping EMS, but if they have to cut them, and cut garbage pickup to schools, etc…then do it. The tax burden will bury us if we dont do something. As to the FD, its ALL volunteer. so if they make a nice firehouse with nicer flooring and furniture than you have at home, but will put their lives on the line to save you and your home, it’s a small – no, minuscule – price to pay. We should, as a united community of jewish and gentile residents, engage in civil debate and then move forward with common cause. Is that too much to ask?

  62. The reason for the posturing is simple . As soon as any controversial financial decision is made by the Twp Committe ,the bigots always come out and spew their nonsense . You can read all the nonsense here as “all the private houses with basements are Schools and tax exempt ” . ” The builders wont sell to us ” ( as if you really want to buy these overpriced houses ) ” the schoo;ls in the Industrial Park are the problem ” ( as if you want our schoo;s near your residental are and by the way a 20,000 tax exempt school building is the same tax exemption whether it is in a residential or industrial building ) and so on .

    None of this has anything to do with EMS but its always the same bigots who spew the same lies that turn this into an “us ” vs “them” issue ,which it is not . It is a financial and medical issue that should be debated on its merits only

  63. ALRIGHT I’M SORRY I WENT WITH ANTI-SEMITIC I KNOW ITS SUCH A CLICHE ANYMORE NO DIFFERENT THAN SAYING PREJUDICE.
    BEING A JEW I HAVE ISSUES WITH PERCEPTION AND I AM JUST SHOWING MY OWN ignorance BY MISSPELLING NEANDERTHAL THAT WAS MY NAME ALONG TIME AGO WHERE I WAS MADE FUN OF IN MY ADOLESCENCE FOR DRAGGING MY KNUCKLES ON THE GROUND. MY MOTHERS SIDE OF THE FAMILY. BUT I AM PAST THAT NOW. I AM MOVING ON AND GROWING IN CHARACTER. SO I APOLOGIZE TO ALL MY GENTILE BROTHERS & SISTERS FOR MY SHORT FALLS AND I THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DONE TO HELP OUT SUCH WORLDLY CRISISES FOR MY PEOPLE. I SUPPORT THE LAKEWOOD EMS DEPARTMENT AND LETS ALL STANDUP FOR SUCH A GREAT CAUSE.

    THANK YOU

  64. Scott Carter and crew, your experience is needed, you should be earning more than you do, here is what you do. Open your own service, and bid for the contract. Let good men and women win.
    Just need to be sure the Township does a fair bidding process. Good Luck!

  66. the majority of savings is from the fact that EMT”s working for lakewood make on average $20 an hour, whereas in a private service they are paid around $12 an hour, multiply that by 168 hours a week x 3 EMT’s x $8 an hour savings = approx $4000 a week in savings from wages.

  67. Mike you are confused. I am not saying they should get rid of the paid service. It would be stupid move on the townships part. The point I was trying to make was that just because it is a private service does not mean those EMT are not qualified. Many of the people that work for the private services also work for townships or vollunteer in their communities. I am very familur with the private companie in the area and know how they work backing up towns.

  68. There should be no bidding! It’s an important service. Lakewood police do not turn a profit but they are needed because of the skills they posses. The Lakewood EMS is being attacked because someone greedy thinks that they can make a profit on this town. The Lakewood EMS should not have to sustain themselves. They do it every day by saving lives. This town is in a financial crisis because of poor leadership. Everything great cost money. The Lakewood Township EMS does and has always done a great job. Let them continue to serve this community and do not give it to a taxi service. Stop making poor decisions to save money. There are other avenues to look at to save money but they won’t be explored because of your ignorance or other motives.

  70. Yeah wait and see the batch of mutants you’ll have. Lakewood EMS has a great reputation throughout the state. Every town has that has changed to a private organization providing coverage has gone drastically downhill.They pay their EMTs CONSIDERABLY lower, which eqauls CONSIDERABLY inexperienced employees and charge the same price in order to make the best profit possible with the lowest cost on salaries possible. This “private organization” will also sweet talk you into “hiring the best of the best, brand new high-tech equipment etc., when really your getting ambulances providing you with the bare minimum to meet state regulations. In the meantime, you have employees who are familiar with the town, familiar with inter-department operations, and most importantly EXPERIENCE ON THE JOB. Citizens of Lakewood…you won’t know what you miss until its gone.

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