Organization could settle finances, operate from shared facility
By Charles Malinchak
Morning Call (Allentown, Pennsylvania)
Copyright 2006 The Morning Call, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
The Perkasie Community Ambulance might sell its station in the borough and use money from the sale to restore its financial health.
The possibility of selling the S. Ninth Street station was included in a Monday night presentation to Borough Council outlining the squad’s financial profile.
The squad has been on shaky financial ground since 1999 after member Bill Hill was charged and later convicted of embezzling at least $260,000 from the organization.
In the wake of that scam, the squad was left with a mess both in its record keeping and finances. Adding to its difficulties was a freeze on some of its accounts by the Internal Revenue Service this year.
The IRS is seeking more than $90,000 in back taxes and penalties.
Speaking after the presentation to council, Squad Captain and Office Manager Lori Wychakinis said the station at 500 S. Ninth St. has had an estimated appraisal of between $325,000 and $350,000.
If the building were sold, she said, the proceeds would be put toward paying the IRS, an $87,000 loan they hope to get from the borough before the end of the year and any other outstanding debts.
Wychakinis said it is very likely the squad would move forward with the sale, which would take several months. That length of time, she said, would still be too long to wait because of the looming IRS payment.
“That’s why we still need the loan [from the borough],” she said.
If the building were sold, the squad would move to the Perkasie Fire Company station behind the East Rockhill Township municipal building on Ridge Road.
She said the squad has maintained some ownership of at least one bay at the fire company station plus a crew room and kitchen.
Also, the Ridge Road station is more centrally located in relation to the area covered by the squad. In addition to Perkasie, the squad serves Silverdale and portions of Hilltown and East and West Rockhill townships.
Council agreed to lend the squad $87,000 last year, but the squad never followed through with submitting the appropriate documents. When squad members approached council earlier this month about the money, council asked for a financial profile before issuing the loan.
In her presentation to council, Wychakinis said the squad’s expense budget for 2007 is $265,067 while the income side stands at about $294,000.
She said most of the income derives from billing for service with the remainder coming from grants and various fundraisers. Some of the expenses, besides operating costs and salaries, include yearly mortgage payments on the S. Ninth Street station of $14,713 and a yearly truck payment of $26,420. The mortgage on the building is about $126,000. The balance of the mortgage, she added, would be another expense paid from the real estate sale.
The squad has been in existence for about 70 years and was once part of the borough fire department. It operates two ambulances with a total of 16 full- and part-time medics and emergency medical technicians and about five volunteers.