Nearly two and a half months after a community meeting April 5 where Vigilant Fire Company pled for a new contract, village mayors have yet to agree on a date to meet with the volunteer fire and ambulance provider, said David Weiss, chairman of the board of trustees for Vigilant.
“After we had the public meeting, I was asked to have another meeting with the villages and I said we’d be glad to,” he said. “I’m still waiting on them to come back to me with a date to meet.”
The century-old organization has been without a contract since 2009.
“We are eventually going to have a shortfall,” Weiss said. “Sometime a little further into this year we may start having issues with our cash flow.”
Vigilant provides ambulance service to every village north of the Long Island Rail Road tracks, and fire protection to the villages of Great Neck Estates, Great Neck Plaza and Kensington.
In the past, costs were paid for by villages in a 70/30 split between fire and ambulance.
In 2009, every village signed a contract with Vigilant with the understanding that in 2010 the proportion of fire and ambulance would change to a 62/38 split.
The modification would have cost the northern villages, those without fire protection, more for ambulance service.
Northern villages signed a contract with Vigilant in 2010 with the original 70/30 arrangement. The Village of Kensington signed reluctantly, while the villages of Great Neck Estates and Great Neck Plaza refused.
Since then, negotiations have stalled.
Suggested changes included billing customers for service rather than homeowners paying about $43 per year in property taxes, which Vigilant stands firmly against. A Nassau County ambulance costs $999 for life support, $1,199 for advanced life support I and $1,249 for advanced life support II, with an additional charge of $15 per mile.
“When we get the 2011 (contract) we’ll sign that,” said Village of Saddle Rock Mayor Leonard Samansky, who has provided outspoken support for Vigilant. “These people are volunteers. They are devoted to servicing our community. They get up in the middle of the night to take care of people including the mayors when they need it, and I’m not the only one. We have been working with vigilant and their contract for 100 years. I think that speaks for itself.”
Village of Great Neck Plaza trustees agreed they are behind Vigilant 100 percent at a board meeting April 6. Plaza Mayor Jean Celender previously said she does not have a position whether or not to charge customers for Vigilant services rather than the village. But she pointed out that charging customers would be a way for her to reduce property taxes for her residents.
Village of Great Neck Mayor Ralph Kreitzman declined to comment Friday on the Vigilant contract. In the past, he said he supported charging customers but had dropped the idea in the face of opposition from residents.
Village of Thomaston Mayor Robert Stern has said he would support any contract which the other villages agree to.
