By Wendy Liberatore
Times Union
MALTA, N.Y. — The town will explore establishing a new property tax—one that will pay for the town’s EMS services.
Town Board officials are exploring extracting the nearly $500,000 a year it spends on ambulance services from the general fund and placing it in a separate reserve that will be funded through taxes. On Monday night, the board adopted a plan to go forward with a study to establish a new ambulance district. The new district and tax it would generate will ultimately need approval from residents in a November referendum.
“It will be like the library district,” said Town Councilman Timothy Dunn. “Voters determined they wanted a dedicated stream of money to go to the library so they are assured library services. This is the same thing, a small amount of money, based on your home’s assessed value, that you would be paying.”
But some residents, like Lynda Bablin, oppose the move.
“I’m totally disgusted by it,” Bablin said. “There is no reason to not continue with the status quo. They want to get this on the ballot in November. Why is there a sense of urgency? Why are they rushing through a referendum? They need to do their homework first before they force this on the taxpayers.”
Scott Skinner, executive director of the emergency service, said the annual budget for the Malta-Stillwater EMS is $2.4 million and rising. Equipment costs continue to climb and so do the number of calls his paramedics and EMTs receive.
Since 2011, calls have doubled. In 2011, when it was just Malta EMS, his staff and volunteers made 1,843 calls. In 2017, after its 2014 merger with Stillwater, it made 3,515. In 2018, he projects Malta-Stillwater EMS will make 3,724 calls.
Malta pays a higher proportion of the expenses, $484,000 to Stillwater’s $295,000, because it generates the majority of the calls. Of the more than 3,000 calls in 2017, only about 650 came from Stillwater.
“Malta has all of the urgent care, the surgical facilities, doctor’s offices, Saratoga Bridges and GlobalFoundries. Malta has more people too. Homes are going in everywhere,” Skinner said. “It’s a big issue because the town is running out money to fill pot holes and pay its employees. If they do it, the general fund could go for general items. If there is an EMS district, the town won’t have to worry about paying for EMS too.”
Supervisor Vincent DeLucia said the current EMS costs are absorbing money needed for roads, filling town vacancies and competitive salaries for employees. He also said a study, to be headed up by town comptroller Kevin King, will allow the town to make an informed decision on the EMS district. DeLucia foresees no additional costs to performing the study.
Dunn said that residents should remember that the town does not have a property tax and that the town is following all the proper procedures to determine if the EMS tax is needed. Many other towns in Saratoga County already have an EMS tax including Clifton Park, Wilton and pockets of Ballston.
“No one is questioning the need for an ambulance corp.,” Dunn said. “If it goes forward, there will be a referendum in November. It will come down to how residents vote, something we can never predict.”
Bablin is not convinced if should be considered.
“They are always preaching the gospel of not having a town tax and then they slap this onto Malta residents,” Bablin said. “They should just be honest about it. They are doing it because they want money for highway equipment and raises for town employees. But we want no new taxes.”
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