South County EMS board OKs 25% assessment hike
Other Committee · Meeting of March 17, 2026
DEERFIELD — South County EMS board adopts $1.93 million budget with a 25 percent assessment hike. Chief Joshua Swans told the board the increase stems from ending a practice of using retained earnings to subsidize the budget, not from new costs. Board member Fred Barron challenged a 30 percent jump in the fee Deerfield charges for administrative "indirect costs," saying, "I don't know what our expense on an ambulance has to do with services provided by the town." The board voted unanimously to cut $20,000 from that line, trimming Sunderland's assessment by $6,300, and to send the dispute to a March 30 joint finance committee meeting.
Swans also said he will ask Deerfield's town meeting to create a capital stabilization fund and signed a renewed mutual aid agreement with AMR after rejecting a disputed intercept-fee clause.
In the full story:
- The complete report — 852 words
Source: the Other Committee meeting of March 17, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
Keep reading with a 30-day free trial
Subscribe to Deerfield News to keep reading this post and get 30 days of free access to the full post archives.
Starting a trial requires a payment method. After 30 free days your subscription begins at the price shown at checkout and renews automatically until you cancel. You can cancel anytime from your account. Subscription terms
A subscription gets you:
- Subscriber-only posts and full archive
- Post comments and join the community
- 24x7 access to local news