LEGISLATURE STUFF - Hanging in the Balance

CAIRO - In the days leading up to it, Greene County Legislature members figured this would be their last meeting with town officials and emergency medical service professionals on the questions of how and when a countywide ambulance system would be up and running.

That meeting occurred, September 25, at the Emergency Services Center in Cairo (too late for this edition). County officials were expecting to, or at least hoping to, leave the session amid jubilant consensus.

Many details would still need to be ironed out but meaningful discussions have been unfolding since last fall between the three groups, and a decision to push ahead was rendered at a huddling, in August.

Or was it? County administrator Shaun Groden left that August meeting with authorization to create a new directorship position.

That person would plan and steer the shift away from municipal units and the non-profit flycar system toward a unified, county plan.

The new director was expected to be on the job in the first quarter of 2026, primed and ready for countywide operations to start at the stroke of midnight on January 1, 2027. Done and done.

All of that, however, was before the town of Catskill ambulance squad surprisingly revealed they might opt out of the county system.

Catskill ambulance administrator George June, in early September, verified rumors, saying, “at this point, [Catskill] is still planning to operate its own ambulance service, until the county can provide assurances the new system will be as good as or better than what we have now.”

June did not speculate on how the county could give those assurances prior to the unified system actually being on the road.

If the town of Catskill stays in business, it could threaten the success of the countywide system. Catskill has the largest call volume in Greene County, making them a key economic player.

The announcement by Catskill, therefore, carries considerable weight and touches old wounds, dating back almost a decade when similar talks regarding a countywide system occurred.

A special Task Force had been established to take a hard look at ambulance service. The issues then were the same as now.

Municipal units were under the gun to continue due to steadily rising costs, staff shortages and stress on employees forced to work as many as 80 hours weekly to make ends meet.

Task Force members, including some of the same county and town officials in office today, concluded a county system was a smart option.

It appeared that would happen but Catskill, with June as its administrator, pulled out at the eleventh hour, joined by the town of Ashland. The plan died on the vine.

While the recent revelation by Catskill has echoes of the past, things have also changed. A decade ago, the Task Force left the decision up to individual towns on whether or not to transition.

This time around, the county is apparently taking a different approach and the financial bull by the horns. “If Catskill wants to keep their own system, that’s up to them,” legislature chairman Patrick Linger says.

“If they do, they will pay twice. This has to be all or nothing,” Linger says. If a countywide system is created, the expense would be assessed to taxpayers in every town whether that town opts in or not.

“This is the second time we’ve been here in ten years,” Linger says. “Many towns have come to us, saying they cannot sustain operations.

“We were asked to look into this by those towns and we have gone through the whole process,” Linger says, referring to the hiring of an outside consultant to examine the condition of ambulance service.

That consultant was brought in two years ago in response to the six mountaintop towns collectively declaring their operations were unsustainable.

Hilltowns were not alone in their desperation, joined by some valley towns, and the current consolidation conversations began after the consultant similarly determined a countywide system was fiscally prudent.

“We are ultimately going to be asked to fund this,” Linger says. “Catskill is not able to fully meet their [response] obligation in their own town. If they can’t admit that, somebody has to admit it for them.

“They can’t reach their call volume. I’m not singling out the town of Catskill. Staffing is a problem throughout Greene County and across the industry,” Linger says.

“That is a major reason we are even considering a county system. We are all in the same boat. We have to row in the same direction,” Linger says.

Whatever the town of Catskill chooses to do, lawmakers are reportedly not merrily merrily rowing down the emergency services stream.

A whirlwind of legislative activity has been unfolding behind the scenes since the beginning of this week related to the fiscal fact that the 2026 county budget needs to be in place by mid-November.

Lawmakers must soon vote on whether to finance the new director and all other costs of the county system, estimated between $12 to $15 million, double what the towns and county, combined, currently spend.

A massive fissure has reportedly opened in that vote, resulting in a special legislative workshop being called for September 24 and then scrubbed, amidst increasing rancor and division within the ranks.

Gloves were going to be off at the workshop. That may instead be removed in a much more public setting on September 25 with everything hanging in the balance (please see our related “Better than Hearsay” column).