MASSENA -- Massena village trustees signed off on an amended five-month contract with the Massena Rescue Squad and E5 Services that includes an 89% fee increase.

Trustees agreed to the deal during the Jan. 16 board meeting in a move that corrects an error from the December meeting when trustees initially sought to approve a six-month contract.

Officials say the move to sign a short-term deal was to better align contracts with the fiscal year so bookkeeping and budget negotiations would be easier in the long term, however the first contract agreed upon in December would not have accomplished the task.

The village's fiscal year begins June 1, while the contract would have expired June 30.

Now with the proper contract in place, Mayor Greg Paquin said the Rescue Squad can continue to service the community at a record pace with Advanced Life Support.

But that comes at a higher cost due to the nature of the services offered.

The contract is valued at $222,985.65 for the five months.

When compared to the 2023 deal, the cost per month will rise from $23,533.89 per month to $44,597.13 per month.

"So even though we passed this last month, new numbers came in and we're just passing it again," Paquin said.

Paquin also pointed to an extra shift per day that also drove the costs up.

"They get reimbursed at a much higher rate and as you can see, our rate of calls and our rate of response are pretty impressive," he said.

"We have the best response rate and the largest number of calls and it's not even close. So this (contract), it'll remain neutral and it will continue not to be a burden on top of the taxpayers," Paquin said.

Paquin said the new contract should be cost-neutral and the rescue squad should be self-sufficient.

"The rescue squad has been answering calls at an unbelievable rate for some time now and hopefully the new laws will help with reimbursement," Paquin said.

The law he spoke of is one passed in 2023 by state officials that will allow emergency services to receive reimbursement for services rendered directly from insurance companies.

In years prior, insurance companies would send those funds to the patient, who in turn were to submit the payment to the service provider.

"Obviously, that didn't always happen but with the new law in place it should make things go much smoother," Paquin said.

That law will be in effect beginning in Jan. 2025.