Ambulance service breaks ground for a new building

After years of struggling for its independence, the newly named Chal-Brit Regional Emergency Management Service held a groundbreaking ceremony Monday for its headquarters on Park Avenue.

New Britain Township struck a deal with the ambulance service earlier this year, leasing the one-acre site next to the township building to the agency for $1 a year for 29 years.

Officials estimated the value of the property between $250,000 and $300,000.

Plans call for the 5,380-square-foot building to be operational by spring, said Bob Bair, president of the board of directors that administers the service.

Although the current service has two ambulances, the building will have three bays to allow for expected growth. There will also be sleeping and kitchen facilities, administrative offices and equipment storage areas.

The company has secured a $600,000 construction loan, said Bob Bender, a member of the board and New Britain's interim township manger. Once borrowing begins, the financing converts to a 29-year mortgage, with an interest rate one percent above prime.

Cost estimates for the building are about $550,000, but officials wanted to allow for additional expenses, said John Engle, Chalfont's representative on the board.

The debt will be repaid through the half-mill ambulance tax each municipality pays as well subscriptions and insurance payments.

Bender said a fundraising event is also being planned, but he declined to give any details until the matter is voted on.

“It's exciting to be out on our own,” said Russ Leets, chief of operations for the ambulance company. “We've come a long way in a year.”

In January 2007, the ambulance service officially severed its ties with the Chalfont Fire Co., which had operated the ambulance service for decades.

The contentious split, which ended in a court-ordered separation, resulted in the independent service that has been paying $2,000 monthly in rent to the fire company.

According to a report from the Chalfont accounting firm of Dunlap and Associates, the ambulance company received about $692,000 in assets from the fire company - some $330,000 was in cash.

Throughout the separation battle, critics called on the reformulated ambulance service to be open with the public about its finances.

Not long after the board of directors was named, Bender, its secretary and treasurer, promised to have both an audit of the service's accounts and an audit of the separation agreement available by August.

He said a “transition audit,” which documents financial transactions from the separation agreement and a year-to-date report regarding EMS accounts were delivered to all three municipalities in October.

The reports were delayed, Bender said, because of personnel issues at Dunlap that slowed some of the reporting.

Bender had also said day-to-day finances would be posted online. While the information is being reported, it is not yet online because it includes private payroll information like Social Security numbers. Efforts are under way to correct that, said the treasurer.

In the meantime, the service's daily transactions can be viewed by all board members.

Bender said by 2008 he expects monthly accounting information and annual audits to be available to the public as well as all local officials.

Bill Jones, a New Britain Township supervisor, said the ambulance service is leading the way in delivering emergency services.

With dedicated funding through taxes, a regional approach and an independent board of directors, Jones said, the new Chal-Brit service is off to a good start.