Ambulance LOSAP could cost $95K a year
With its takeover of the formerly privately funded Red Cross ambulance corps, the Town of Shelter Island may ask voters this year to approve a state-regulated Length of Service Award Program (LOSAP) for volunteers. It could cost the town $95,000 a year for the first five years; after that, the cost would be expected to decrease by about one third.
During the first five years, the town would be covering back payments for members whose service qualified them for the past five years.
A current member who qualifies and gets full credit for five years of back service would receive $100 a month, based on a state-set reward of $20 a month for each past year of service. The reward would be $30 a month for future years of service; a qualified volunteer who serves 20 more years after LOSAP is set up would receive another $600 for a total payment of $700 a month.
The details were laid out last week by Edward Holohan, an actuary and president of Penflex, a service award program specialist in Latham, New York. He visited the Island on Wednesday, January 11, to address a meeting of the town’s new EMS Advisory Committee, which the Town Board set up to help it manage the new town department. He’s expected to make a similar presentation at a Town Board meeting later this month.
The award plan, similar to what voters approved for firefighters in 2005, was developed by the state to give fire districts and municipalities an incentive to retain volunteers and increase membership.
Before any ambulance corps plan could be put in place, it would have to be approved by town voters in a referendum that could take place as early as July, Town Councilwoman Chris Lewis said at the session.
Ambulance volunteers praised the town’s effort last Wednesday. Corps Lieutenant Mark Kanarvogel told the Advisory Committee that he thought establishing the award program would be a good step toward making the relationship between the town and the all-volunteer corps a positive one.
To qualify, a member would have to earn a set number of points based on a combination of emergency service calls and meetings they attend. To be vested in the plan, a member would have to serve a minimum of five years. Someone joining the corps but leaving before five years wouldn’t receive any benefit; the money paid into the plan on his or her behalf would be distributed to qualified participants .
A lump sum would be paid if the member were to become permanently disabled or die prior to reaching age 65. The lump sum payment would be low for a young member with only a few years of service but could be in the vicinity of $50,000 for an older member with many years of service, Mr. Holohan said.
Retention and recruitment are issues for the corps, Chief Jim Preston said at the meeting. Young people who join often end up leaving Shelter Island and many don’t join because the demands of their work and home life are too great, he said. For every 10 who join, only three typically remain by the end of five years, Chief Preston said.
Affordable housing on Shelter Island would help retain young people who currently can’t live here, member Tom McGriel said.
What’s more, volunteers have to put in many hours of training, little of which is offered on the East End. They end up having to travel as far as Holbrook for courses, the chief said.
They must outfit themselves and that’s a costly investment in equipment, Mr. Kanarvogel said. Older members sometimes end up “adopting” newer members, purchasing the necessary equipment for them, he said.
On the plus side, service in the corps not only provides great training for those who might want to pursue medical jobs, but it can give a candidate an advantage with a potential employer when seeking any job, corps member Jack Thilberg said.
EMS Advisory Committee members expect to visit corps headquarters for a walkthrough to learn more about equipment and procedures, they said.
FIRE DISTRICT OPTION
When the LOSAP issue came up at Tuesday’s Town Board work session, Councilman Paul Shepherd said the town should compare the costs and benefits of letting the ambulance corps take part in the Fire District’s existing LOSAP program.
Councilwoman Chris Lewis noted the corps was now a town department and combining it with a Fire District program “might be problematic.”
“It’s being steered in a different direction,” Mr. Shepherd said — a complaint several firemen made last fall as the town and Red Cross finalized the details of the town takeover.
Councilman Ed Brown said he had no problem with exploring all the options. “We can hash it out at a work session,” he said. When Mr. Shepherd asked if the board would have considered the option of a Fire District alliance for the ambulance corps if he hadn’t asked, Mr. Brown quipped, “Gee, you saved the day, Paul.”
