Highland voters weigh volunteer service payments

By DAVID HULSE

ELDRED, NY — Town of Highland voters next Tuesday will be deciding on two ballot propositions, asking if the town will fund length of service awards programs (LOSAP) for members of the Yulan and Highland Lake fire departments and the Eldred American Legion Ambulance Service.

LOSAPs are available under New York State law and allow volunteer emergency service workers to be paid up to $30 per month for each year of active service after 20 years.

Highland emergency service volunteers are seeking $10 per month, per year of service, with a maximum monthly payment of $400 per month after 40 years.

Required annual points for the program would be earned with a combination of alarm calls, training and other mandated duties.

The program also provides life insurance and a disability benefit, and active senior members would be able to buy back up to five years of service retroactively.

The firefighter’s plan is designed to cover some 58 participants and would cost the town $62,327 annually during the first 10 years, and $27,430 annually thereafter.

The cost of the ambulance service program will depend on how many of its 33 volunteers complete the mandatory service requirements, but has been estimated at $28,000 annually during the first five years, dropping to $10,200 every year after that.

The question is whether traditionally conservative Highland voters will approve the cost. If cost estimates are correct and the program payment remains the same over the next 30 years, the two programs will cost the town about $1.57 million, which is about the same cost the town projected over 30 years to bond a new highway department garage. That measure was defeated by a three-to-one margin in a September referendum.

Supervisor Allan Schadt said earlier this month that the annual cost has to be weighed against the possibility of longer waits for mutual aid when volunteers are lost or the cost of hired personnel.

Former Yulan Chief Bill Hofaker told a public hearing that fire department membership has dropped nearly 40 percent since the 1960s and that the department isn’t getting the new volunteers to replace them.

Chuck Myers, another former Yulan chief and a 56-year active member of the ambulance service, emphasized that both programs deserved approval. Myers was concerned that voters would choose the less expensive ambulance program.

“That wouldn’t be fair. For those of you who don’t know what’s involved, ask me,” he said.