SHERBURNE – Representatives from Cooperstown Medical Transit attended Tuesday night’s Village of Sherburne board meeting to discuss how they could assist the village’s ambulance service. The village has been discussing options for starting a revenue recovery system that could eventually allow them to add some part-time paid help to cover times when volunteer response is at its lowest.

Margaret McGown, chief financial officer for CMT, and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zeek attended Tuesday’s meeting to inform the board about CMT and the services the ambulance provider can offer the village. McGown explained that CMT has been in business for 28 years and currently offers service in Delaware, Otsego and Chenango counties. “In Delaware, we cover more than 50 percent of their 911 calls,” McGown said.

In Chenango County, McGown estimates CMT responded to approximately 1,496 calls in 2008. The commercial ambulance service has one ambulance that is dedicated to Chenango County 24 hours a day, seven days a week; however, McGown explained as one ambulance responds to a call, another will come into the area to back-fill the post. “We use system status management. We’ve had as many as five trucks here at one period of time,” McGown said. “We go where we need to go within the three counties.”

In the past year, Sherburne was dispatched 450 times; however, EMS Chief Jay Symonds said they were only able to respond to about 415. McGown said that number of calls doesn’t sustain having a paid entity at all times. “We have not yet contracted with any municipality in terms of coverage,” Zeek said. “Our business started around the core of transfers between hospitals. It allows us to bill a lot of miles, which helps us to support the 911 calls, which don’t generate a lot of revenue.” Zeek explained that if Sherburne were to continue with its current ambulance structure CMT would try to be as available as possible to help with calls, but added that there are times when they are not available. “It’s not likely that we would contract to do runs at this time,” Zeek said.

Squad Captain Jansen Casscles asked for clarification. “Is it safe to say that in regards to Sherburne, the most CMT can offer is response from the Norwich post?” Casscles asked. McGown said that is safe to say.

The CMT representatives explained that with the number of uninsured on the rise, the number of non-payers is also increasing. They also explained that both Medicare and Medicaid pay a set amount, and companies are not allowed to collect any more than that. “Our personnel costs are approximately 55 percent of our total operating costs,” McGown said. “That doesn’t include the cost of health insurance or fuel.” McGown said there are a lot of factors that need to be looked at to determine what the actual costs and revenues might be.

The Village has been trying to determine whether a revenue system that is municipal based or not for profit would be a better choice for Sherburne.