By Hayleigh Gowans

Staff Writer

The village of East Syracuse is considering whether to consolidate the East Syracuse ambulance district with the town of DeWitt, and has set a public hearing to review the possibility.

In the past, the village of East Syracuse had contracted directly with East Area Volunteer Emergency Services (EAVES) for ambulance services. In 2010, the town of DeWitt created a new ambulance district, which included the village of East Syracuse, but the village board at the time opted out of joining.

Mayor Robert Tackman said the reason for merging with the DeWitt ambulance district now was due to the rising costs of medical services, and the fact that EAVES is moving to a larger building and expanding its services, so costs may increase.

Tackman said there isn’t a way to tell how tax rates would be affected by this change because the contract negotiations would go through the town of DeWitt, but he believes it is a smart idea to spread the costs of ambulance services through the whole district rather than through two separate districts.

Merging with the town would move ambulance budgets costs from the village budget to the town budget, and village residents would pay it when they paid their town taxes.

“Medical service costs have been going up and up and, with the increase, we think this is a fair way to spread the costs to everyone in the village and the whole district,” said Tackman. “It also ensures that EAVES can continue to work in tandem with the East Syracuse Fire Department.”

This matter was discussed at the Oct. 24 meeting of the village board. Trustee James Carr said he had concerns as the whether a future village board would be able to reverse this decision to consolidate with DeWitt if it was found to not be in the best interest of the residents.

“I don’t want to pass this and find out we can’t get out of it if it’s actually worse for the residents,” said Carr.

Village attorney Robert Germain said typically, a board can pass a resolution that would be able to change the situation, but because the village would be relinquishing their taxing authority if this resolution was passed, he would have to double check on how to opt-out.

The matter is subject to a permissive referendum because it would change the taxing authority for the ambulance services. This means that any residents who feel this matter should be reviewed must acquire a certain percentage of signatures within 10 days of the public hearing and it will be put to a public vote.

The village board voted to hold a public hearing on the matter at their next regular meeting, 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 7 at the village offices, 204 N. Center St. in East Syracuse.