Albion Town Board approves contract with Monroe Ambulance for 2024
Albion agrees to pay 52% or $155K of contract for 7 towns
Photo by Tom Rivers: Albion resident Jason Dragon shares concerns about a new contract with Monroe Ambulance which Dragon tells the Albion Town Board disproportionally burdens Albion taxpayers among the seven towns in the agreement.
ALBION – The Town Board voted unanimously, 5-0, on Monday evening to pay $155,820 to Monroe Ambulance in 2024, which is up from the $84,400 Albion paid the Rochester-based company in 2023.
Albion is one of seven towns in an agreement with Monroe Ambulance to be the primary ambulance provider in central and eastern Orleans.
The seven-town consortium is basing each town’s share on the percentage of calls in the seven towns. Albion accounts for just over half of the total calls, which is why Albion will be paying $155,820 or 52 percent of the total cost to have Monroe station an ambulance in Albion 24 hours a day, seven days a week and one in Holley for at least 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Monroe also will draw on ambulances in Monroe County if there is a need in Orleans County.
The Barre Town Board was the first of the seven towns to approve the contract. Barre voted last Wednesday to pay $13,740 in 2024, which is up from the $8,000 in 2023.
The seven towns didn’t have to budget any money for ambulance services until 2023. Central Orleans Volunteer Ambulance sought municipal support for years but the towns declined. COVA has since folded with Mercy EMS taking over that base in Albion and keeping many of the COVA employees. Mercy responds to some calls in Orleans, but also provides ambulance services in Genesee County, Hamlin in Monroe County, and Niagara County.
Albion Town Supervisor Richard Remley said the seven towns plan to put out an RFP (Request for Proposals) next year and will take the lowest bid from a qualified ambulance provider. He anticipates the RFP will go out in mid-2024.
The seven towns wanted to stay with Monroe, which started operations in April 15, with an ambulance based out of the Albion Town Hall and highway garage. Remley said a full 12 months-plus of data will be available in mid-2024 to help the towns plan for the future with ambulance services and contracts.
Jason Dragon, an Albion resident, said Albion is disproportionately bearing the burden of the contract. He said it should be based on the taxable value of each town, which would then have Albion paying 18 percent of the cost, or by percentage of population, which would put the burden on Albion at about 25 percent.
Basing it on call volume, when Albion has a nursing home and two state prisons, is unfair to Albion, which Dragon said already pays far more of its share in local taxes, especially for the village property owners.
“I don’t see how assessing towns by call volume is the most fair way,” Dragon said at the Town Board meeting. “This is an undue burden. We’re making it more and more expensive for the people of the Village of Albion.”
The additional costs for the ambulance is a big factor in the taxes going up in Albion in the 2024 budget that was approved on Monday.
The tax rate for property owners outside the village will be will be $7.45 per $1,000 of assessed property, which is up from $6.27 in 2023 and $4.17 in 2022. For a $100,000 property outside the village, taxes will increase $118 next year and are up $328 in two years.
The town tax rate for village property owners will be $5.39 per $1,000 in 2024, up from $4.69 in 2023 and $3.09 in 2022. Towns taxes for village property with a $100,000 assessment will be up another $70 in 2024, and increased $230 in two years.
“I’m concerned about the rate increase,” resident William Gabalski told the Town Board.
The town tax rate actually went down from 2009 to 2020, he said, but has now doubled in four years.
“We have very high taxes,” he said.
Highway Superintendent Michael Neidert said the highway department is managing OK in sharing some space with Monroe Ambulance. He suggested the Town Board try to get some money from Monroe to help with the utility costs with the building. Remley, the town supervisor, said he would ask Monroe if the company would contribute to those expenses – heat, electric and other utilities.
“It is cramped,” Neidert said about the shared space. “It is an inconvenience to us and them.”
Here is what the Monroe contract calls for each of the seven towns to pay in 2024, with the amount they paid in 2023 in parentheses.
- Albion, $155,820 ($84,400)
- Barre, $13,740 ($8,000)
- Carlton, $22,350 ($14,800)
- Clarendon, $25,350 ($18,800)
- Gaines, $12,030 ($24,600)
- Kendall, $17,850 ($0)
- Murray, $52,860 ($30,600)
