SCIPIO - Scipio said yes to joining Southern Cayuga Ambulance, which also serves Genoa, Ledyard, and Venice. The Scipio Town Board decided at its regular meeting Wednesday night to make a commitment to include $11,000 in its budget earmarked for Southern Cayuga Ambulance service after hearing from one of its representatives.

“We're in,” Keith Batman, town supervisor said.

“Make it clear,” Greg Malys, town councilor, said. “It's going in the budget; it still has to go through the budget process.”

The decision was made knowing that there wasn't much time before the town would be planning next year's budget, and Kezia Passeghian, representing Southern Cayuga, stressed that other towns were hanging on Scipio's decision.

“Other towns are asking about what the town of Scipio is going to do next year,” Passeghian said.

Malys reiterated a concern he had earlier about the town's share of fees looming out of control from the $10,000 quoted last year to perhaps $40,000 in another three years.

“There weren't big surprises in our costs and income projections,” Passeghian said. “We have to plan for some increases, but we are trying to keep it as low as possible. I wish I could give you a 100 percent guarantee one way or the other,” she said, noting that some decisions are based on what happens in the rest of the county.

She said that right now, workers with advanced life support training are available about 80 percent of the time. If towns wanted them 100 percent of the time, it would cost more.

Passeghian stressed she was not asking the town to commit for more than one year, and explained the formula used to derive what the town's share for the service would be.

Their 2009 amounts are based on the number of calls and population of Scipio for 2007. Scipio had 1,536 residents or 28 percent of the population of the entire area served by Southern Cayuga. There were 85 calls, or 27 percent of such calls in the entire area.

These percentages are added and divided by two, with 27.5 as the percent taken of the total wages for the ambulance staff applied to the town. Operating expenses are covered separately and not billed to the town.

Passeghian said payroll expenses were low from January through June 2008 - $28,000 - because a large percentage of the service has been covered by volunteers.

“Paid staff covers when absolutely nobody else is available,” she said. She said that when the service gets an advanced call, they have their own emergency medical technicians on board.

Those towns with basic ambulance service through their fire departments still have to get EMTs from Rural Metro if they get an advanced call. She stressed that the EMT is not covered by the patient's health insurance and can cost the patient upward of $360.

Scipio's fire department does not have ambulance service.

Passeghian emphasized that the town's decision needed to coincide with the other towns' budget process

“If your town says ‘no' again, I'm not sure the other towns will agree,” she said. “If that happens, I would close it (the service). I don't want to be seen as though we're begging for support. I want it seen as we're offering you an option. I don't want to see the ambulance falling apart without letting the towns know what's going on.

The town's budget process should be in gear by October, according to Batman, when its commitment to the service can be finalized.

Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net