Financial Crisis Threatens Day Service at N.J. Ambulance Corps

ENGLEWOOD - The Englewood Volunteer Ambulance Corps will stop daytime ambulance service unless it receives an immediate emergency transfusion of tens of thousands of dollars, President Paula Weiler said Monday.

The service could stop as soon as Monday, Weiler said.

The ambulance squad was thrown into financial crisis when the city stopped paying stipends for daytime medical technicians at the beginning of January.

The city had to stop the payments when it learned it had been violating a state law that caps at $105,000 the amount a municipality can give to a volunteer squad, City Manager Cheryl Fuller has said. The city provided $144,000 to the squad in 2006, according to budget documents.

Although night and weekend EMTs are volunteers, the hours of 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. are covered by EMTs who are paid between $11 and $14 an hour. The squad started hiring for these hours in 1989, with the city footing the bill.

If EVAC stops running daytime shifts, emergency calls would be routed to the mutual aid service from nearby towns. But with 2,800 ambulance calls last year, that arrangement is not sustainable, Weiler said.

EVAC representatives were expected to meet today with Fuller to discuss how the city could absorb some of the squad's expenses without violating the state cap. EVAC members also plan to raise the issue at tonight's public council session.

EVAC's operating budget is about $130,000 a year, and it has been operating at a deficit for a few years, Weiler said. The squad would need an additional $85,000 to $95,000 to pay for the daytime shifts on its own, Weiler said.

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