The 2025 Port Washington Fire Department contract for services was unanimously approved by the Port Washington North Village Board of Trustees.
Nassau County has three types of fire departments. Village fire departments are controlled by a given municipality’s mayor, fire districts that are political subdivisions of the state and run by publicly elected commissioners,and independent fire departments.
The Port Washington Fire Department is an independent fire department that serves Baxter Estates, Sands Point, Port Washington North as well as parts of Flower Hill, Plandome Manor, and the Town of North Hempstead, according to its website.
“There is not one other fire department in the county of Nassau that provides the detailed emergency medical services that the Port Washington Fire Department provides. We have one of the largest memberships in all of Nassau County,” Chris Bollerman, ex-chief and chairman of the Port Washington Fire Department Board of Directors, said during the presentation.
Bollerman added that the department has seven fire stations with a fleet of four ambulances, five engines, two ladder trucks, one rescue truck, and two high-water rescue vehicles.
The Port Washington Fire Department contracts with the Town of North Hempstead along with the individual incorporated villages to provide primary fire and Emergency Medical services.
Within the Port Washington Fire Department, there are four separate companies, each responsible for a different area of fire or emergency medical service operations. Each company has officers and operates independently of each other regarding matters of business.
Bollerman presented the contract during the Dec. 10 meeting of the village Board of Trustees Tuesday.
He began his presentation by highlighting the last year for the department. In 2023, the Port Washington Fire Department responded to 3,748 emergency calls in Port Washington; of the responses 2,396 were ambulance calls and 1,352 were fire calls according to Bollerman.
The department was the busiest in Nassau County last year. It was able to recruit 23 new members; however, it lost 20 for a net gain of three, according to Bollerman. This year the department brought on 47 members while losing 11 for a net gain of 36.
Within the Village of Port Washington North, the department responded to 233 ambulance calls, 10 percent of its call volume, and 179 fire calls, 13 percent of its call volume.
This contract is negotiated equally among the areas that they serve. The county sends the fire department a list of every address by municipality that it protects, according to Bollerman.
Afterward, the department adds up all the values, then adds up each municipality, and then divides the value of the municipality into the value of the total. That resulting number equals how much municipalities will have to pay for the department to protect them with fire trucks and ambulances.
The 2025 apportionment of the budget is utilizing the same figures that were applied when calculating the 2024 budget. The Village of Port Washington North is a little over 7 percent of the department’s budget. Its total payment for 2025 would be $350,898, with firefighting and ambulance costs being $317,502.
Bollerman noted that there are differences between the operating budget and the contractual budget. The 2025 overall operating budget is $5,421,102 while the contractual budget is $4,833,302. The difference of $587,800 between the contractual and overall budgets will be filled by funds from the ambulance cost recovery program, according to Bollerman.
Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the state budget into law in April 2022. General Municipal Law, a set of laws in New York that governs the operations of local governments, was amended to allow fire departments previously not permitted to bill for ambulance services to begin doing so for a four-year period.
This legislation gives fire departments another source of revenue rather than solely relying on taxpayer dollars. The ability for them to recover costs expires on April 9, 2026. Unless an extension or a permanent enactment of the law happens, fire departments and fire companies will not be able to bill after this date.
“By having this funding available to us, we can provide what I believe is the best service in Nassau County from a fire department. Nobody is providing better service,” Bollerman said.
Prior to the infusions of funds from the ambulance cost recovery program, the department was initially ranked 16th in overall budgets, but the additional funds allowed them to move up one spot.
The contract was approved unanimously by the Village of Port Washington North Board of Trustees. After approving, members thanked Bollerman and the department for their service to the community.
