A nice problem: $750,000 remains in Ledyard’s ambulance account

Town’s options include funding its new service

Ledyard — As the mayor works to finalize a contract with a new ambulance service provider, the town has to decide what to do with the estimated $750,000 left in the EMS Capital Fund, a town-managed bank account, which Ledyard Volunteer Emergency Squad has contributed heavily to over the years.

At this point, there is no dispute that the money belongs to the town, and LVES officials have expressed no desire to contest it.

Since 1972, ambulance services here have been supplied by LVES, which is not a municipal agency, legal entity or incorporated.

Despite this, LVES has operated as a quasi-town agency in many ways. Until this year, LVES always received some funding in the town budget, its three paid employees are town employees, the ambulances are owned by the town, and the fuel they use is provided by the town’s public works garage.

As an ambulance service, LVES traditionally receives a significant amount of money by billing the people its transports, but because the group is unincorporated, it didn’t have its own bank account. So it relied on the town to manage its bank accounts, one of which — the EMS Capital Fund — was where the billing revenue was deposited. The fund was used to purchase new equipment.

Over the years the account grew, and now sits at about $750,000. But with the town switching to American Ambulance and LVES ending its service on June 30, the town is left with the funds.

Mayor Fred Allyn III said that the town is still committed to paying LVES volunteers their incentive pay at the end of the fiscal year. However, that is not expected to be a very large number and one that will more than likely be made up by the town’s sale of at least one of its newer ambulances, which town officials expect to net at least $100,000.

Meanwhile, the three LVES employees, two full timers and one part timer, will have new positions with the town, but their salaries have already been placed in the budget and will essentially just be moved to a different line item, said Allyn.

All this leads to the question of what will the town do with the rest of the money? And the short answer, for now, is town officials don’t yet know.

Allyn said the town isn’t looking to spend the money or apply it to the recently passed budget to lower taxes.

One idea being considered is to use some of the money to pay for the new ambulance service contract with American Ambulance.

Although the exact terms of the contract are still being negotiated, the guaranteed maximum price Ledyard received for ambulance services from American Ambulance is $75,000. So, in theory, the fund may have enough to address 10 years of payments.

“In terms of money sitting there, which could be as much as $750,000… by no means are we looking to take the money to apply it to new spending,” Allyn said. “It needs to go to emergency services, so ultimately that is where it is going to go.”