Funding Emergency

Ambulances encircle Green in EMT rally

By Fred Snowflack (an editorial)

Daily Record

May 8, 2009

Let's put the political posturing, some of which was present Wednesday evening on the Morristown Green, aside and admit that cutting government is not easy. We are not making an excuse for Gov. Jon S. Corzine, but we are recognizing reality. Advertisement Quantcast

An analysis by the state's non-partisan Office of Legislative Services projects at least a $1.2 billion revenue gap in the budget that ends June 30. Because of that, and also because of the overall economic picture, the governor is looking to make cuts anywhere he can. He has proposed removing $4 million from a training fund for Emergency Medical Technicians and putting that money in the general treasury. In the billion-dollar world of state budgets, $4 million is the proverbial drop in the bucket.

A rally Wednesday in Morristown to protest the idea was led by a few dozen ambulances that encircled the Green. A passerby easily could have thought a medical disaster was afoot.

The EMTs had a point. Money in the fund is provided through a dedicated 50 cent surcharge on all moving violation tickets in the state. It is always difficult to mess with a dedicated fund, which is created for a specific purpose. It's also bad politics to irritate emergency squad volunteers -- people who give many hours of time to their passion. Given the small amount of money, relatively speaking, involved, the governor should rethink this one, but there's no guarantee he will.

If state money for training is greatly reduced, those costs likely would have to be picked up by municipalities or the volunteers themselves. Tim Smith, a Roxbury Township councilman noted, "It's bad all around."

Sure, it is. But let's be more realistic than political here. We can not repeat enough that in bad economic times, people and groups have to deal with the fact they can't always get what they want.