For Taylor and seven other EMTs, the Sept. 14 deadline marks the last day of a job that they have fought to keep since late February, when the City of Hackensack announced that the city’s daytime emergency medical service would be transferred to Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC). With Sept. 15 now set to be the day that Hackensack’s daytime ambulance service changes hands, the question of whether the controversy over the fate of the eight EMTs that has roiled the city for the past five months will now end remains unanswered.

Budget concerns vs. public safety

The debate over the EMTs is rooted in the one-time, $1 million payment made to the city by HUMC in exchange for the approval of the hospital’s plans to build a new cancer center adjacent to the hospital. Part of the agreement stipulated that the city would transfer control of its daytime emergency medical services to HUMC, with the hospital reportedly set to hire Vanguard Ambulance Service of Rutherford to replace the eight EMTs who currently work under Hackensack Fire Department (HFD) command. An Aug. 1 deadline was originally set, but letters received last week by the affected EMTs confirmed Sept. 14 as their final day on the job.

While the EMTs and their supporters mounted increasingly vociferous protests at both city council meetings and at public protests over the last several months, the city has maintained its position that the move is necessary in the face of the tightening budget constraints faced by all state municipalities. This municipal belt-tightening includes adherence to the state’s mandated 4 percent property tax levy cap. Hackensack officials have repeatedly stated that they expect that the transfer with save the city $600,000 a year.

City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono defended the move, stating that he believes the transfer of emergency medical services on Sept. 15 will be close to seamless.

"I do not anticipate any change in service," Lo Iacono said. "Response time will not suffer, and the ambulances will be right here in the middle of town. This changeover will be transparent to the public."

However, union officials believe that the change in service will have an immediate negative impact on the residents of the city.

"The city is going forward with a profit-making venture for the hospital rather than looking into what needs to be done for the best interests of their residents," said Charles Grieco, a HFD deputy fire chief and president of International Association of Fire Firefighters (I.A.F.F.) Local 3172 – Hackensack Uniformed Fire Officers Association. "This is a quality of life issue, or the possibility of no life. If I took over your job, would I be as good as you after the years of experience that you have? Probably not. Now multiply that by the 25 years of experience that our guys have. This is more than just economics. This is politics."

"A lot of people have been laid off due to cutbacks in the state," added Hackensack firefighter John Linquito, president of I.A.F.F. Local 2081, which represents the EMTs. "But those were consolidations of services, or regionalization. What’s happening here isn’t regionalization. It’s privatization."

Union officials, EMTs look to future

Grieco and Linquito noted that they are pursuing legal measures to try to stop the Sept. 15 transfer, which includes an unfair practice charge filed with the state Public Employment Relations Commission on June 8 that could ultimately force city officials to the negotiating table. Both union officials also believe that any decision regarding the city’s EMS service should be decided at the ballot box, noting that EMT supporters are circulating a petition to try to put the issue up for a vote on this November’s ballot.

"We know what the people feel, and we know what happens if it goes to the ballot," Grieco said. "We win."

"There will be more people running for council than you have ever seen before," added Linquito, looking toward the 2009 Hackensack municipal elections. "People are motivated now because of the way this thing has been handled."

But Taylor isn’t necessarily thinking about the next election. He’s thinking about where his next paycheck is coming from. His motivation is survival.

"If this happens, I’m probably going to have to move out of Bergen County, maybe even out of the state," said Taylor. "We’re going to do the best we can. But I’m not sure I’ll be an EMT again wherever I go. This whole thing pretty much took the wind out of my sails. After everything we’ve done for the city, we’ve been strung along. It put a bad taste in my mouth. If this could happen in this city, in the county seat, it could happen anywhere."

E-mail: bonamo@northjersey.com