Money comes between Huntington officials and ambulance squad

Tensions are running high between Town of Huntington officials and members of the volunteer Huntington Community First Aid Squad over contract talks and nearly $2 million in an account controlled by the group.

The squad's attorney sent a letter to Supervisor Frank Petrone on Nov. 17 with a list of concerns, including his public statements about the squad's finances and the town's cut to its 2016 budget. The letter also accuses the town of canceling meetings to discuss the contract with the squad, which last week took out two-full page ads in weekly newspapers that criticized Petrone and asked the public to weigh in by calling his office.

In response to the letter, Petrone sent a draft contract and his own letter to the squad, which says he has "continuing willingness" to meet but that it is the squad's fault a meeting has not taken place because its members have not complied with "our informational requests."

"They are going to have to sit down with us and bring the financials," Petrone said. "It's public money."

Alyssa Axelrod, vice president of the Huntington Community First Aid Squad, said the proposed contract serves as encouragement that a meeting will be set soon.

"But there is still a lot of misinformation that's outstanding," she said. "A lot of that is presented in the supervisor's letter that accompanied the contract. There's a lot of misinformation that stands between us as far as getting a proper handle of what the issues are."

The town's contract with the squad expires at the end of this year.

The two sides have been battling it out since earlier this fall when the town's 2016 proposed budget revealed an 8 percent cut to the squad's budget. The $188.7 million town budget, with the cut, was adopted this month.

Petrone has said the decision to trim the squad's budget was based on the town's analysis of its finances, which indicates the squad has been carrying a cash balance in its operating budget for the past four years. The squad does not dispute that there is $475,000 in the account, but officials said the money is earmarked to purchase new ambulances. The squad also acknowledges it has $1.9 million in another account but that that money was raised over the years from donations and wise investing.

"We continue to assert that these other funds [the $1.9 million] are not taxpayers' money received through the town agreement but rather independent donations, and as such, the town and its employees have no jurisdiction over them," the letter to Petrone said.

In October, town officials asked the office of state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli to look at the squad's books. That same month, a Town of Huntington-commissioned study to look at the increase in requests for mutual aid by the Huntington Community First Aid Squad recommended changes to the way the all-volunteer organization is run.

Axelrod said some of the recommendations are being implemented. "We're looking to get a better handle on the misinformation that's also presented in the study," she said.

The two sides are also at odds over some recommendations in the study including that the squad hire staff. Petrone has also rankled the squad with his wish to move to a model adopted by the Commack Ambulance District which has begun billing resident's insurance company for services.