By Lucas K. Murray
The Gloucester County Times
SOUTH HARRISON TWP., N.J. — A New Jersey Superior Court decision will allow a truck bearing the markings of the Unity Service Ambulance Association to remain in town here.
Judge James E. Rafferty determined earlier this month that a claim on the ownership of a 2002 ambulance by South Harrison Township should be dismissed.
In June, the township filed suit against the ambulance corps that served residents for more than three decades until South Harrison joined the Gloucester County Emergency Medical Service.
In the original suit township officials claimed that, with the exception of recent years, a budget line item for EMT services has been included in their spending to total nearly $124,000 since the year 2000. The suit also claimed that Unity utilized funds from both the county and the township to take out a loan that was used to purchase the 2002 ambulance.
Unity contended that the non-profit group had purchased its own equipment, supplies, and four ambulances over the years. Part of the agreement to join the county EMS included a transfer of the truck and the building that housed it.
In the suit, the township sought transfer of the ambulance title and declared it to be the property of the township. The suit also asked that attorney’s fees and costs be covered by Unity.
“All the facts indicate that Unity is a private, separate corporation with no legal connection to the municipality or the county,” Rafferty wrote to the township’s solicitor.
State statute 40:5-2 allows a municipality or county to make donations to a volunteer ambulance or rescue squad or association.
“The ambulance at issue here is owned by Unity Service Ambulance Association, Inc., the title is in their name, and they are in possession of the ambulance,” the decision reads. “There is no legal or equitable basis that title should be transferred to the municipality.”
Unity’s ambulance had been stored at a garage at the township’s municipal building until Gloucester County EMS took over coverage in South Harrison.
That’s where the county squad is based now.
The rig belonging to Unity could be making runs in support of the Harrisonville Fire Company.
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