The following is a copy of a letter I submitted to the Board of Selectmen this week:
I was asked to attend your selectmen’s meeting to represent the Harvard Ambulance Service because the billing issue was on the agenda. While at that meeting, it became obvious to me that the board had already made the decision to bill Harvard residents. This action was totally against our agreement with the prior Board of Selectmen that the issue of billing residents was such a sensitive issue it should be decided by a vote of the Town Meeting.
I have been an EMT for 32 years and a member of the Harvard Ambulance Service for 16 years. I have volunteered my time to help fellow citizens in their time of need. Over the years, the dedicated members of the ambulance squad have given countless hours of education, training, and emergency response 24/7 for a cost of less than two-tenths of 1 percent of the entire town budget—that’s a good deal. Don’t forget that we are citizens who pay taxes!
Just prior to your vote for billing, the town administrator was asked how much money the town would receive as a result and his response was “$60,000.” Last week he stated that the amount received would be “$40,000.” He just lost one-third of his projected gain. The town cannot bill for lift-assists, standbys, cancellations, refusals, and the presence at community events that the volunteers have been doing for years at no cost. There should have been a cost-benefit analysis completed. Where is it? I’m sure that if such a document exists, it does not include salaries for all the things that volunteers did at no charge.
Our town has always supported volunteerism. This has now changed. Our low number of billable runs does not justify the small amount of income to be gained. I joined the ambulance squad to volunteer for the community. Since you have decided to throw money into the situation, I have no choice but to resign from the squad on this day.
When you finally realize what you have destroyed, there will be blame, and when that is directed at volunteer members of the squad, I want the public to know that from the beginning we were against billing and wanted this major issue to be decided by Town Meeting. That chance for a citizen vote was taken away. What ever happened to democracy?
I would like to thank the citizens of Harvard for their support, our dispatchers, fire, and police for their assistance, and all of the EMTs over the years who gave their time for the benefit of our community.
Charles A. Perry Jr.
Old Mill Road
