By Audrey Levine, Staff Writer
With seven years of experience after first contracting with the borough for daytime ambulance services, Somerset Medical Center has dropped the annual fee charged to the borough for the service.
As lead agency for the Somerset Ambulance Shared Services Agency (SASSA) which is made up of Manville, Raritan, South Bound Brook and Bridgewater the borough sought bids for daytime weekday ambulance services for the hours between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.
”We started this (in 2001) because of a shortened number of volunteers for daytime hours,” Borough Administrator Gary Garwacke said.
A contract to last from 2009 through 2013 was unanimously awarded to the medical center, the only bidder, through a resolution at the Dec. 15 Borough Council meeting.
Through the contract, Mr. Garwacke said, the borough won’t be paying anything for the daytime ambulance services.
He said that, in the last contract, the borough paid $30,000 per year for the services, while one of the initial agreements with the center cost the borough about $95,000 per year.
”This is one of our very good shared services,” he said.
Mr. Garwacke said that because of money received by the medical center through insurance and other methods, it was able to offer a contract that would be of no cost to the borough itself.
Residents will still be required to pay for the ambulance service in emergencies through their own insurance policies.
This ambulance service, Mr. Garwacke said, allows those in need to be transported by medical center vehicles to any area hospitals, including Robert Johnson University Hospital, in New Brunswick.
In addition to the cost, Mr. Garwacke said, the contract included an offer to waive a performance guarantee requirement, which would have been necessary if any other medical center had made a bid on the contract.
”We have eight years of experience with the Somerset Medical Center,” he said. “We have had a good history with them.”
Basically, Mr. Garwacke said, the point of taking this action was to reinstate a contract for the shared services between the members of SASSA.
”It is the same service (as before),” he said, “and it is saving us money.”

