GUILDERLAND — The town board here, on Jan. 17, unanimously approved a fee schedule for emergency medical services where nearly all the rates for transport remain the same.

A little over a year ago, in December 2021, the town had increased rates for the first time in three years.

The town board had originally approved an EMS billing policy on Oct. 15, 2019, soon after the inception of the Guilderland Ambulance Service. Formerly, the not-for-profit Western Turnpike Rescue Squad had been partially staffed by volunteers.

For 2023, the only rate increase for transport is for Advanced Life Support, Level 2, which is increasing from $2,200 to $2,500.

Transport to an area hospital with Basic Life Support remains the same at $1,250 and so does the rate for Advanced Life Support, Level 1 at $1,750.

In a memo to Guilderland supervisor Peter Barber, Jay Tyler, director of Guilderland EMS, explained the differences between the various levels of support.

Basic “includes the provision of medically necessary supplies and services” as defined by the state. Advanced level 1 also includes “an ALS assessment or at least one ALS intervention,” which must be performed by an emergency medical technician - intermediate or by a paramedic.

An Advanced Life Support, Level 2, in addition to providing necessary medical services and supplies, also involves at least three separate administrations of medications intravenously and at least one other procedure from a list of seven procedures, including chest decompression and endotracheal intubation.

The fee schedule for 2023 also includes increases for vendor overtime rates.

For BLS Ambulance the rate has gone from $82.46 to $112.20. For ALS Ambulance, the rate has gone from $140.48 to $153.30.

For a paramedic only, the rate has gone from $70.24 to $76.65, and for a supervisor, the rate has gone from $84.74 to $96.66.

Also, the cost for course completion cards from the American Heart Association has gone up incrementally, by less than a dollar.

Tyler wrote in his memo, “EMS billing reduces the tax subsidy of EMS services … While taxes still supply a portion of operational funding, ambulance fees collected from insurance companies mitigate the taxpayer burden.”

Other business

In other business at its Jan. 17 meeting, the Guilderland town Board unanimously:

— Added the town engineer and building maintenance supervisor to the list of people required to file annual ethics disclosure.

Barber said this is because they both have some say in awarding contracts;

— Accepted the 2022 annual report from the town’s Conservation Advisory Council, which is to be submitted to the state’s environmental conservation commissioner. The four-page report, submitted by the council’s chairman, John Wemple, noted that two large subdivisions were reviewed (of 66 and 41 lots) along with four subdivisions with fewer than five lots.

The report notes that one of the inspected sites had been used for dumping for probably more than 20 years. Trash dispersed throughout the lot includes rusted cans, roofing shingles, concrete blocks, carpet, plastic bags and containers, the report says.

Councilwoman Christine Napierski suggested “doing something about dumping in town” to which Barber said it would be good to look at “in light of this report.” Councilwoman Rosemary Centi noted the town code already deals with dumping to which Napierski responded the code might be improved;

— Approved the provisional appointment of Brittany Jurnak as a keyboard specialist in the assessor's office and the permanent appointment of Jason Vivian as a laborer in the Water and Wastewater Department.

In both cases, Napierski voted in favor of the appointments but asked for more information in the future. Barber said the Jurnak appointment was from a Civil Service list and that, for the Vivian appointment, the water department is “constantly looking.”

“The problem is, we are competing with the Targets of the world,” said Barber, adding that, in the future, “We’ll get more detail”;

— Acknowledged receipt of the 2021 single audit of the town’s federal expenditures.

“Anytime we get over three-quarters of a million dollars, you have to do a single audit report of basically your expenditure of federal funds,” said Barber, noting most of the funds are for Section 8, a federal program that subsidizes housing for low-income residents.

Guilderland’s Section 8 housing is administered by an outside provider, Barber said.

Because of the federal funds the town received for pandemic aid, Barber explained, Guilderland received over $1 million, triggering the audit requirement, a first for the town.

The outside auditor wrote, “In our opinion, the accompanying schedule of expenditures of federal awards presents fairly, in all material respects, the expenditure of federal awards of the Town of Guilderland for the year ended December 31, 2021, in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.”