Article 1 Passed With 22 Yes and 1 No

[Henry]

The article voted on tonight passed 22 to 1

[lena6]

2 if I had been there

[ohhman]

Make that 3, but I had training class to attend; sorry, I appreciate all the rescue does, but we need to remember, taxpayers just gave them a pretty large increase in funding yet MANY of us do not see our salaries increase during these economic down times.   They are NOT part of our town; they are a separate entity.

[nhibbard]

The amount came down to around $1,700 in reduced revenue to the town. There weren't that many people there so that either says the didn't care to voice an opinion or couldn't go. If you can't go to one of these meetings, you can always send a letter and request it be read. Rescue is part of our town They are also an independent organization like any other incorporated business. My thought was to reduce the contribution to rescue by the amount of lost revenue, but for the amount it was worth fighting about. If you have an issue with the contribution to Rescue, voice it a town meetings and Selectboard meetings. Make sure others who share your view do as we'll. you voice might be heard but you still need to make your vote count.

[logical]

And also remember that if you did not have Fairfax Rescue and taxpayers did not pay the amount they do each year to them (regardless of increase) that you would in fact pay MORE $$ to another service.  And another service would in fact be even less a part of our town!  Not sure that people realize what a benefit it is to have our own service in town.  Both fiscally and convenience wise.

[vtredhd]

Not only would the cost per person increase, the time in arriving to the scene would be greatly increased depending on where your "rescuers" would be coming from.   

[logical]

Definitely, vtredhead. 

If you have ever had the need for the services of an ambulance you know that every minute counts.  Depending on the emergency, waiting for an ambulance to come from St. Albans (or wherever) versus having one come from in town can mean the difference between life and death.  Is it really worth complaining over $1,700!  I can think of many more ways to save the town money that don't involve taking away from our much needed rescue squad.

[ohhman]

As we all are entitled to our own opinion, I was just stating I would have voted NO last night as at our big town meeting, it was voted to increase the amount the town gives the rescue by $13,954.00 from what the town gave last year.  To me, that's a pretty sizeable, generous increase.  I would have been there last night to express my opinion, but I had a training meeting I needed to attend for my job, so I can continue to work & pay my taxes and all the increases this year.  I'd rather not become one that has her property go up for tax sale.  I again say, I appreciate our rescue.  I have always supported the money given to them, though I did not agree when they decided to keep the second ambulance after we were told it was in such dire need of replacing & that we needed to start paying per diem as volunteers are hard to find for the one & now we have two.  Just sayin'.  Now I know why Henry's site has been more quiet lately; it's because if you voice your opinion in a nice way, you get slammed &  ridiculed by others & what you say gets taken WAY out of context!   I love this site but some people trash it!

[vtredhd]

Thank you Logical.  If I am gasping for each breath and am experiencing chest pain, the $1700 is going to seem like peanuts if you are told you have to wait for AMCARE to arrive from St. Albans.  And Fairfax Rescue who is "NOT" part of our town??  They are VOLUNTEERS who are your neighbors who will get out bed in the middle of the night to go to your bedside, who miss out on family activities away from home because they are on call in case YOU need them and are possibly at your child's football game for their sake and safety.  No, they are not part of our town and deserve no support from us in the least.

[nhibbard]

I agree we all get to have our opinions but we only get to vote on giving them money and giving them tax breaks. How they spend their money is up to them as a private group. I understand people are busy, but votes are what matter. Out of the thousands of voters in town only 23 expressed a vote. It would be great to get more people to attend meetings and see where money is spent and what policies are made.

[mkr]

I am at a loss for words on some of these comments.  

Every EMS Rescue, whether it is Fairfax Rescue, AMCare, etc.. would charge you to cover our town.  Fairfax Rescue Charges $12 per person in the population, bare minimum.  Everyone else pays between $19-$28 in other local towns per person.

They use that money to purchase technology to SAVE YOUR LIVES! To save for a replacement ambulance, have one person full time at the building.  This is a non-profit, almost fully volunteer Rescue Squad. They work full time jobs, have families, are required to attend trainings to be prepared for you when you need them the most. I have known of MANY who give their mileage checks for travelling to assist you with their own vehicle or your familes in your time of need to help keep the rescue squad moving in the right directions.

Like purchasing a 12 Lead AED unit so if you have chest pains they will be able to determine on site that you are indeed having a heart attack and instead of sending you to Northwest in St. Albans, deterine that and then only to be shipped to Burlington as they required to do so.  Which can drastically change the outcome of such a critcal medical emergency.

I am so thankful for the Fairfax Rescue and ALL they have done for my friends and family as well as myself.  They also provide an option for those who are concerned they may need ambulatory care frequently.  You can get a subscription each year for I believe it is about $50 and the Rescue Squad will bill your insurance and what they do not pay you are NOT responsible for.

This is a non-profit EMS rescue business.  This is not a money-making gig for them and if there was more money I could give them to help them purchase equipment to help them save my family and all of the town I would!

[lena6]

Did not mean to open up a can of worms.  I am all for rescue..  I was one of the original ones to start FairfaxRescue.  Was on it for 10 years plus.  If it wasn't for our taxes they would not have a new building.  The person responsible for the new building did a 360 on us.  Am I right /Mike? 

[resqmas701]

Everyone here has valid thoughts here. Yes there was an increase this year as there has been in years past. I remember one year when it was nearly 76,000.00 and I remember years when it was 10,000.00. We are an evolving business and because of that we need to try to do what is best for the business and for the people we serve. This year we are adding a much needed piece of equipment to replace one that is becoming outdated. That is where most of the increase this year is going. Medical equipment and supplies are expensive. If you have been to the doctor or the hospital lately, surely you know this. Emergency medicine is not profitable either. We lose money on a fair share of the calls that we take. Unlike family doctors we can not refuse to provide care for all but the ones we makea profit from.

While you may not "have a say" in how we spend the money, we are certainly transparent about how we intend to spend the money every year. We publish our budget in the town report along with what our budget was for the previous two years. We are not required to do that but we want to be as transparent as possible. Somebody mentioned this but I will restate it. We are providing care that is as good or better than anyone else at half the cost that others are paying. Why is that? Because of all of the people who volunteer their time to come help you for no other reason than that it makes them feel good. Yes I am paid to run the business end of things but I made it clear when I took the job that I was not interested in it if I could not also do my volunteer time.

I am personally offended by the statement that rescue is not part of the community. Who do you think these people are that get out of bed and come to you in the middle of the night and under the worst possible conditions to help you when you need it. Lena does know this because she was there when rescue started all those years ago with a handful of people who wanted to help. Back then we did not have an ambulance but had to rely on the local hearse to take you to the hospital. It was certainly cheaper then but is that what we really want to go back to?

I have said many times before and will say it again, for those that want to get the costs of providing EMS service lower, get yourself on over to rescue and join up. For every 4 new people who volunteer their time we will be able to cut close to 10,000.00 out of the budget. We need more volunteers. More volunteers means fewer paid people. So you all can make a difference if you really want to. It is pretty easy to take shots at people through a forum but it takes someone with stones to step up and do something about it.

Back to the second ambulance again. We had a 10 year old ambulance that due to age and our great Vermont roads truely did need to be replaced as a "front line" ambulance. The truck was in the shop from time to time  for repairs and when it was there was no ambulance in town. At trade in we were offered 4,000.00 for the old ambulance. A business decision was made that it was worth much more than that to us as a second ambulance. That second ambulance has been used 30 to 40 times per year since that decision when the first truck is out on another call. That means since we went with two trucks we have taken care of around 200 of you who would have otherwise waited for someone else to come. To me that is worth far more than the little bit of money we would have gotten for that trade in. I mean really how much is a life worth.

I just want to state for the record that these are all my personal thoughts and not necessarily those of Fairfax Rescue. I would encourage anyone who wants to know more about our operations to come by and ask questions. We have nothing to hide. I would also encourage any of you to make a difference and start volunteering some of your time.

[ohhman]

I am sorry I wrote "not part of our town"; I do whole heartedly apologize & what I meant was that rescue is not like our fire dept. (that is the town volunteer dept.) in that rescue is its  own entity.  I stated, & will say again, I appreciate all rescue does for our town & surrounding towns BUT, I am trying to say many of us are on slim incomes & with all the increases in our budgetS this year, our taxes will go up quite a bit.  Yes, everything goes up, BUT not always does our income level to support rising costs.  That's why our tax collector expressed her dismay at town meeting that this was the first time in her many years she had so many tax sales.  It's not easy on any of us.  At home our budgets get tightened to make ends meet, but for many of us, though we know town/school budgets are built (or so we hope) with everyone's well being in mind, it still puts yet another stress to make those ends meet.  I am NOT "taking shots" at any one through this forum, though much criticism has come to me for expressing my opinion~which is what a forum allows.  I am not in a position where I can volunteer there but I volunteer in many other ways as I have for my over 30 years living here.  Thankyou for taking the time to respond; I wish there was more response to Lena's valid question about the one responsible for the new building has done a 360 on us.

[resqmas701]

I stand chastised by several persons for not answering one question from Lena about the person responsible for the building doing a 360. When I first logged on I did not see that initially. I am not sure what Lena was referring to but I suspect that she is referring to Gabe Handy and his initial offer to build the building and lease it to us. I will say that was his opening offer. I would also say that if it had happened we still would have had to pay for the building. We would have saved the interest on the loan. I will also say that it was NOT Mr Handy who did a 360. The select board of the town of Fairfax said they would not grant water rights for the rescue building if it was being leased from Mr Handy. That meant that we had to purchase the building and thus get a loan. When we were unable to get a loan from our own bank (very tough for non profits because they don't operate at a profit), Mr Handy took his time to locate a bank that would work with us. He also served as the general contractor for the project at no cost. He also built the building with his own money so that we did not have to go to the bank for a building loan. This meant that we did not have to make any payments or start paying interest until we take possession of the building. Mr Handy also made a guarantee that we would pay no more than $288,000.000 for a building that has been appraised by the bank at $400,000.00 plus. I can tell you that Mr Handy left us in charge of the checkbook for the project so I am aware of what the building costs are. I also will say that it would appear that the actual costs will be tens of thousands more than $288,000.00 which Mr Handy will absorb out of his own pocket. So did Mr Handy do a 360 on us? I would say definitely not....