Village of Lewiston approves budget; LFD No. 1 looking into ambulance fees

DPW exploring ways to fight heavy rain events

By Joshua Maloni

GM/Managing Editor

Trustees in the Village of Lewiston voted Monday to approve the fiscal year 2025-26 budget of $5,269,972, and set the tax rate at $8.354858 per $1,000 of assessed property valuation.

Mayor Anne Welch said, “We have had our budget meetings, and have gone through everything line by line; did our cuts as much as we could. Obviously, we have increases that go up, also, that we are mandated and we have to do just like everybody else. We're under last year's budget. We're under the tax cap. It's a 1% raise in tax rate.”

No village residents spoke at a public hearing prior to the budget vote.

Click HERE to learn more about the new budget.

Lewiston Fire Co. No. 1 will begin charging for ambulance services.

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LFD No. 1 to charge ambulance fee

Toward the end of March, Lewiston Fire Co. No. 1 Chief Spencer Lilly submitted a request to the Village Board pertaining to his department initiating billing for ambulance services.

He wrote, in part, “For many years, Lewiston Fire Company No. 1 has been dedicated to providing ambulance services to the village and a portion of the town without placing any financial burden on taxpayers. This has been made possible through reliance on donations and fundraising efforts. However, we are now facing increasing call volumes coupled with an increase of required annual training. This situation necessitates that we shift our focus towards essential training and reduce the time devoted to fundraising activities.”

Lilly appeared at the work session to follow-up on his request.

He said, “Ambulance billing for volunteer fire companies wasn't a thing up until about 2022, when the state changed the law to allow volunteer companies to bill for their services. We've hemmed and hawed with it, and now that we're starting to see the increased costs of replacing equipment, including an ambulance – and then just the other stuff that goes along with it to do our job – we're not going to have enough money with the donations that we receive to be able to continue the direction we're going.

“With this, we have to bring a resolution to the village to allow us to pursue billing, and that's what we're here asking to do tonight.”

Trustees approved the request.

Welch said, “I understand. You’re going to have to get some kind of funding.”

Lilly said neighboring fire departments already charge an ambulance fee.

“(Lewiston No. 1) They're the ones that haven't been charging anybody,” Welch noted.

“We’re one of the last ones to come forward to do this,” Lilly said.

“I think this is something that's been a long time coming,” Welch said. “I understand why you have to do this now.”

“We appreciate everything that you guys do for us, and take care of our residents, and you're always there within minutes to help,” she added. “I don't have any problem with this.”

Deputy Mayor Vic Eydt said, “I think it's long overdue.”

With regard to the process, Lilly’s letter noted:

√ A third-party service specializing in ambulance billing will manage all invoicing processes.

√ Residents within the primary service area will not receive a bill. They may receive a request to provide their insurance information to facilitate the billing of their insurance company.

√ Bills will be sent directly to insurance companies; patients will not be billed.

√ Uninsured individuals will not be billed.

√ Nonresidents may be responsible for copays or deductibles as determined by their insurance plans.

√ Insurance payments will be directly deposited into a dedicated EMS account.

√ Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements will adhere to established billing schedules.

DPW looking into recent rain event

Department of Public Works Superintendent Anthony Mang said his team is investigating ways to counter the effects of Mother Nature in the Oxbow Lane/North Eighth Street/Kiwanis Park quadrant, following another strong weather event last week.

“That's a concern with storm water and sewer water with the recent heavy rainfalls,” Mang said. “I want to be clear that it's not a backup; it's an over-capacity situation.

“Currently, we are looking into avenues, as a possible type of way to kind of reroute some of the storm water that ends up at Kiwanis Park, and take that and directly put it into the river. But, obviously, there's funding discussions and planning process to be done for that.

“It is something that we're aware of – and I know there's a lot of concerned residents, so we are aware there's stuff that we can do to make it better; and we've been working diligently on that. Hopefully, we should have some sort of plan together. Honestly, there's going to be some discussion on which route we want to take, but we do have something in mind that should directly relieve the major areas. … The closer to Kiwanis you get, the more the problems are very visible. We have something that should alleviate those areas.”

Mang said, “There are areas that we're trying to redirect. It's going to involve putting in a large-diameter pipe, specifically on Mohawk Street between Seventh and Eighth. But again, I don't want to get too much into detail, because the plans can change a little bit; but we’re going to be discussing some funding to try to get that ball rolling. But definitely something that the labor department would do in-house.”

He noted the DPW is sympathetic to residents impacted by the high-water events – they “definitely shouldn't feel like they're on their own in that situation. We're looking to try to figure out a solution that's effective.”

Metro Creative Graphics

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Upcoming events

Village Board members approved a trio of events:

•The Fourth of July Skylighters pyrotechnic display, in the amount of $15,800. Clerk Shannon Fundis said the cost could fluctuate depending on tariffs, as the fireworks come from China.

A rain date was set for July 5.

• “Trick or Treat on Center Street,” returning from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 26. From Seventh to Fourth streets, the main roadway will be off-limits to motorists to allow children to collect candy and go back and forth to the Red Brick Municipal Building for Recreation Department programming.

•“Family Day,” sponsored by the Historical Association of Lewiston. This involves closing Niagara Street, from Plain Street south to the end of the Lewiston Museum’s property, from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, June 1.

Trustees also accepted Lewiston Fire Co. No. 1’s line officers for 2025-26:

√ Fire Chief Spencer Lilly

√ 1^st Assistant Chief William McEvoy

√ 2^nd Assistant Chief Chris Copland

√ 3^rd Assistant Chief Matthew Grainge

√ President Tracy Grant