Webster Town Board
December 14, 2023
A workshop meeting of the Webster Town Board was called to order by Supervisor Flaherty at
5:30 p.m. at the Webster Town Board Meeting Room, 1002 Ridge Road, Webster, New York,
with the following officials present:
Supervisor ................................................................................ Thomas J. Flaherty
Councilman .............................................................................. William G. Abbott
Councilman .......................................................................................John J. Cahill
Councilwoman .......................................................................... Patricia T. Cataldi
Councilwoman ........................................................................... Ginny L. Nguyen
Town Attorney ........................................................................... Charles J. Genese
Town Clerk ........................................................................... Dorothy M. Maguire
Department Heads Present:
Communications Director .............................................................. Bridget Harvey
Finance Director.................................................................................. Paul Adams
The meeting was open to the floor for public comment. The following people appeared before
the Town Board.
Betty Montgomery, NEQALS Board Member, thanked the Town Board for the consideration of
a resolution for provision of emergency funding which will aid NEQALS as it continues to
provide full-time ambulance services in the Town. The funding will in the short-term assist
NEQALS as it continues its thirty-five-year commitment to providing emergency medical
services until sustainable long-term solutions are agreed upon. She thanked the Town Board for
diligently working over the past two years with NEQALS to find a way to organize and fund a
sustainable model of EMS ambulance services in this Town. She thanked Town Board member
John Cahill for his continued support of EMS in the Town as the Town Board Liaison to
NEQALS Board of Directors. She mentioned that John is a member of the Multidisciplinary
Expert Committee that is currently working on a sustainable solution to provide hometown
ambulance services in the Town of Webster even as revenue continues to dwindle, and costs
continue to rise. In addition, she thanked Webster’s Director of Finance, Paul Adams, for taking
the time to recently spend weeks with them reviewing their financial records.
Ronald Nesbitt, Webster Resident, is not in favor of providing NEQALS emergency funding as
they are a private company and have not proven themselves since they received over
$200,000.00 from the Town in July 2022. Some of his concerns include lack of and poor
service, failing to comply with the Planning Board for proper landscaping and site approvals, and
that they currently owe the Town a significant amount of money for unpaid gas bills. Mr.
Nesbitt is also concerned that the Town Board has not posted for the replacement of a Cable
Director.
Dan Cody, Webster Resident, stated that after twenty years as a buyer of the business world he
has learned that a contract is a contract. If he was buying a service or a product from a supplier
and that supplier said they needed more money, he would tell them to go read the contract. If
they could not fulfill the terms of the contract, they would be in default and the contract would
become null and void. Then he would go out and look for someone else to supply the same
service or product. The taxpayers of Webster should not finance a private company beyond the
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agreed terms just because they have a contract with the Town. Poor planning, management or
poor business plan on the part of WEMS is not the financial responsibility of the Webster
taxpayers. He asked the following questions. If additional funds are to be handed out, will their
finances become public knowledge as quickly as they accept taxpayer dollars? If WEMS is
crying poverty, do the taxpayers of Webster have the right to know how their money is being
spent and what part of salaries are management? I f additional public funds are handed out, what
will guarantee that another begging does not come again in six months? If the Webster Herald is
correct, their charter states that they will not be supported by public funds, will the acceptance of
public funds put their charter and them in violation and will the Town of Webster be an
accomplice to that charter default? He stated again, a contract is a contract. It is an equation that
must be kept equal and fair to both sides. I say let the contract default and put EMS out to bid
again. This time let's be more careful, transparent, while keeping the faith and the trust of the
citizens of Webster.
Kevin Ramph, Webster Resident, stated that before being replaced, Union Hill had about 2300
calls for service a year and about another 2000 calls a year for service from West Webster, that is
4300 calls for service that NEQALS takes annually. According to the revenue and expense
figures he provided to the Town Board, NEQALS should be realizing a profit of $2 million a
year. He further stated that the Town keeps saying that NEQALS operates a Town ambulance,
they do not. They operate an ambulance in the Town, the Town does not own the ambulances,
the equipment, the building or take care of payroll. NEQALS is a contractor, treat them as such.
If the money is given to NEQALS, this will be the second time they have reneged on a contract.
Six months ago, you told them to shape up or ship out. Now the Town is going to throw them
another $60,000.00. If they are paid this money will taxpayers still pay their third-party bills,
insurance and co-pays or is tax money now paying for this service? When was the last time the
Town Board reviewed how much NEQALS was billing the residents of this Town for this
ambulance service in your name? Union Hill used to do it all the time. Compare the rates that
they are billing the residents of this Town to what other agencies are billing. He asked if the
Town has reached out to other EMS agencies. During the election, he saw political signs
wanting to replace the Town Supervisor by NEQALS “Save EMS in this Town”. He asked if tax
money or third-party payments were used to pay for the signs. So instead of shaping up and
shipping out like the Town asked them to, they wanted to replace the Town Board.
Dave Wohlrab, Webster Resident, stated he was confused and asked if the emergency funding is
for NEQALS or WEMS. He also wanted to know where the funding was coming from as he did
not see it in the 2023 Budget.
Russ Ziskind, Webster resident/CEO of North Onondaga Volunteer Ambulance, stated that when
he started to hear about the issues from NEQALS and the Town of Webster he was happy to get
involved and volunteer his time. A committee of twelve people has been formed to construct an
operations and business plan for NEQALS which will be presented to the Town Board in early or
mid-January 2024.
***
Paul Adams, Finance Director, provided the following presentation for the consideration of
providing $60,000 in Emergency Funding to Northeast Quadrant Advanced Life Support
(NEQALS).
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What is this analysis based on?
•
•
•
•
•
Estimated incoming cash has been calculated based on the rolling 12-month analysis.
Incoming cash from the Richmond Fire District has been based on the contract terms.
The payroll and employee benefit costs have been based on average payrolls from 2023.
It is approximately $75,000 per bi-weekly payroll.
Vendor payments have been based on the average non-payroll and non-debt service costs
for 2023. It is approximately $73,000 per month.
The debt payments have been based on the actual monthly payments as of November 28,
2023.
Note:
• The scenario outlined has the Town of Webster making a $60,000 emergency payment in
December 2023.
• The scenario outlined has the Town of Webster making the annual $50,000 contractual
payment in January 2024, a month earlier than historical payments.
Why consider this funding?
To cover budget shortages based on the following Annual Cash Flow Totals
Estimated Incoming Cash
$1,800,000
Richmond Fire District-Staffing Contract
350,000
Town of Webster Contract
50,000
Contributions
50,000
Estimated Annual Incoming Cash
$2,250,000
Payroll, Employer 401K Match & FICA ($1,906,000)
Vendor Payments
(876,000)
Debt Payments
(180,000)
Estimated Annual Outgoing Cach
($2,962,000)
Net Annual Cash Burn
Monthly Cash Burn
($712,000) Annual Shortage
($59,333) Monthly Shortage
Next Steps:
December 14, 2023: Webster Town Board considers two resolutions to the transfer of $60,000 in
emergency funding to NEQALS.
January 2024: NEQALS receives $50,000 contract payment from the Town of Webster, which is
accounted for in the Town of Webster’s 2024 Budget.
Date TBD 2024: Special Committee makes recommendations to Webster Town Board on a plan
for a responsible and sustainable future for EMS in the Town of Webster.
Following the presentation, the Town Board discussed emergency funding to NEQALS.
***
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A motion was made by Councilman Cahill to approve emergency funding of Sixty Thousand
Dollars ($60,000.00) to Northeast Quadrant Advanced Life Support (NEQALS), the current
EMS provider for Webster Emergency Medical Services (WEMS). There was no second and the
resolution failed.
Following the failure of the resolution to approve the emergency funding, Supervisor Flaherty
shared his thoughts on how there could be a second vote on December 21, 2023, if the NEQALS
Board would agree to a change of leadership at the top and getting rid of the Richmond Contract.
***
There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at
6:30 p.m.
___________________________
Dorothy M. Maguire, Town Clerk
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