Milford wants to privatize ambulances

[Kat Kanning]

http://www.1590.com/Stories/0,1413,222~23679~2704080,00.html

Residents to decide March 8 on privatizing town ambulance service

By JOHN COLLINS, The Broadcaster

MILFORD It's an important emergency call, one that all Milford residents will be asked to make less than a month from now.

Despite findings and recommendations by a study committee and the Board of Selectmen that the town can save more than $2 million by privatizing its municipal ambulance service, a group of residents led by former Selectman Dick D'Amato is actively urging residents to vote "no" on the proposal, set to appear as "Question No. 6" on the ballot on Town Election Day, March 8.
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When discussions began in early 2004 about the possible need for a third ambulance and a larger garage, selectmen appointed a study committee to seek a more cost-effective way of operating the town's ambulance service.

As the result of a nine-month study, the committee, led by former Selectman Peter Leishman, discovered they could save millions of dollars by putting the ambulance contract out to bid among commercial providers. Putting forth the lowest bid, was the executive director of Rockingham Regional Ambulance Service of Nashua, Chris Stawasz, who offered to provide emergency service and transportation for Milford's 14,000 residents for a total of $612,000, spread over a five-year contract.

"I have yet to see anything that government can do as cost effectively as a reputable and experienced private company," says Stawasz. "We know what we're doing. It's our specialty, it's all we do."

Not only will taxpayers save lots of money in the long run, Stawasz contends, but emergency patients will benefit from an upgrade in service in the form of higher quality vehicles, and shorter response times to calls, due to Rockingham's policy of having two pairs of emergency medical technicians on duty, ready to board two ambulances, around the clock.
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