Town strikes deal with ambulance service

MORRIS >> Town officials have struck a deal with Litchfield Volunteer Ambulance to provide fulltime EMS service for the community, officials said Wednesday.

The new arrangement runs between May 2 and Sept. 2, 2017, according to First Selectman Tom Weik.

Morris Volunteer Fire Department Vice President Vinnie Aiello said Monday that the department had provided daytime ambulance service on May 1, but Morris Volunteer Fire Department President Kevin DeRoehn refused to confirm that or comment on the matter Monday.

The department’s contract with

Torrington-based VinTech to provide daytime ambulance service in Morris expired April 30.

Morris firefighters, as the holder of the primary service area rights for the community, were traditionally responsible for providing such services in the community. The department relinquished the PSA to the state, DeRoehn said, paving the way for the new agreement.

Litchfield Ambulance Service now holds the PSA, Weik said Wednesday.

The new agreement will not require an additional expenditure for such services from the town, Weik said.

“We expect no increase in cost to the town for EMS service,” said Weik.

Funds for the agreement will be drawn from the “safety” line item, according to Weik.

The town included $130,650 in the 2016-17 fire department budget for the purchase of contracted ambulance services — $60,000 less than requested by the department.

The department and Board of Selectmen have been mired in a dispute over the future funding of daytime ambulance service in town since last May, when the revenue recovery agreement, which governed fees collected by the department for the provision of ambulance services, expired.

In 1999, the department began to subcontract daytime EMS services, most recently striking an agreement with VinTech.

Under the revenue recovery agreement, the department would transfer the bulk of the funds collected for these services to the town on two occasions each year, once in January and again in July.

The department contends that the last payment it was obligated to make under that contract was paid in January 2016, while the Board of Selectmen argues that a second payment is required.

The Board of Finance, in relation to this ongoing issue, moved $60,000 in funding originally designated for the department into a contingency account in the last municipal budget.

DeRoehn said in April that the department had run out of money to pay VinTech, and unless further funds were released by the Board of Finance, would be unable to pay the bill.

The department previously paid to extend the contract with VinTech through April 30 in March, averting a previous deadline for the expiration of the agreement.

The town has historically provided the department with funds for contracting out for daytime ambulance services through a line item in its budget.

Weik said Wednesday that he was unsure whether the town would continue to pursue the disputed funding, as to his knowledge, it could only be spent on EMS services, and the fire department no longer holds the PSA.