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Look at Our Priorities

I’m writing to ask the town and the townspeople of Madison to support the Madison Ambulance Association, also known as Madison Emergency Medical Services (EMS). It runs at a deficit every year because Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements only cover a small part of the actual cost of its services. If this continues, service may need to be curtailed, discontinued, or replaced by an out-of-town provider.

I must stress the importance of supporting the ambulance association. It provides 24-hour, 7-day-per-week coverage for our town. It’s a good investment for every family to donate $100 to the ambulance every year. Donations can be made to Madison Ambulance Association at 9 Old Route 79 Madison, CT 06443.

Now the town is in budget negotiations, and we should look at our priorities. In past negotiations, members of the Board of Finance suggested that we don’t need the response that Madison EMS provides, so we shouldn’t increase our funding to it. I disagree.

Let’s to compare the ambulance request and the library request to illustrate my point about priorities.

The library budget for 2019-’20 is $1,345,789. The ambulance budget for 2019-’20 is $1,695,501.

The percentage of the library budget that the town provides is 85.8 percent or approximately $1,154,841. The percentage of the ambulance budget that the town provides is 39.2 percent or approximately $665,000.

This year the library is requesting a budget of $1,736,927, 85.2 percent of which it is asking the town to fund: approximately $1,479,583. The ambulance is asking for an increase to $1,863,267 and asking the town to fund 49 percent of it: approximately $918,618—less than 75 percent of what the town funds the library at.

They are both investments in our lives. If we need to choose, please consider what we will be without the ambulance.

Tom Banisch

Madison