WHATELY — South County EMS plans to raise its service fee to Hatfield per ambulance request from $350 to $1,178 in the next month as part of a proposed new contract.
This increase reflects its emergency responses to Hatfield over the past few months, which South County EMS Chief Tim Drumgool said has exceeded mutual aid.
In July, South County EMS started charging a $350 service fee per ambulance request after responding to 97 calls, primarily on weekends and overnight, in Hatfield between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2025. This represents more than 10% of South County EMS’ total volume. However, the Hatfield Fire Department responded to South County EMS’ coverage area just once between July 2025 and January 2026.
More recent data shows that since July of this year, South County EMS has responded to 63 calls in Hatfield, while Hatfield responded to South County EMS’ coverage area just once.
Of the 63 calls, South County EMS providers recorded that Hatfield firefighters were on scene for five calls, and Hatfield police officers responded to 12 of the calls.
“So there’s essentially no response at all from Hatfield,” Drumgool said at the South County EMS Board of Oversight meeting on Wednesday. “It also puts more of a burden on my crew to now do everything on their own and not have support.”
Instead of mutual aid, the proposed new contract designates South County EMS as the primary ambulance service for Hatfield that will take its calls. The $1,178 rate reflects the total cost of South County EMS responding to each call, with an additional 10% bump for administrative, fuel and supply expenses.
Drumgool said the increased service fee will allow him to hire more providers to staff a second ambulance to shoulder Hatfield’s calls without doing a disservice to South County EMS’ member towns of Sunderland, Whately and Deerfield, by continuing to give Hatfield a “discount.” While the member towns pay South County EMS about $550 per call, the three municipalities contribute revenue to the ambulance service. Hatfield does not.
“We’re supporting a town that isn’t contributing to us,” Drumgool said.
According to Drumgool, his paramedics have missed six calls since July in South County EMS’ coverage area because they were responding to requests in Hatfield.
At the end of the proposed new contract term, Board of Oversight and Deerfield Selectboard member Trevor McDaniel said potential excess money South County EMS may generate from the agreement could be used to incentivize Hatfield to buy into the ambulance service as a member town.
“It’s not like we’re just writing this money off and we’re trying to take advantage of them,” McDaniel said. “We’re trying to cover our costs and do all of this, but we also want to entice them to join us long-term. That benefits everybody. … Any town needs to regionalize. Nobody can do it on their own anymore.”
The Board of Oversight discussed when would be the best time to give Hatfield a 30-day notice of South County EMS ending the current agreement. They settled on Drumgool notifying the town on Thursday morning and having the option to extend the notice if he and Fred Baron, who chairs both the Board of Oversight and Whately Selectboard, deem it necessary. In the meantime, Drumgool will schedule a meeting with the Hatfield Selectboard to potentially negotiate the contract.
“[The joint meeting] should be within the next two, three weeks,” said Board of Oversight and Sunderland Selectboard member Christyl Drake-Tremblay. “Once we get to 30 days, we’re now another month that Hatfield is only paying $350. … Our taxpayers are paying for Hatfield to have an ambulance service — we cannot sit on this.”
Hatfield Town Administrator Andrew Levine confirmed his office received notice about the rate adjustment from South County EMS on Thursday. The Hatfield Selectboard, he said, is likely to have the matter on its Sept. 29 agenda.
With South County EMS responding to an increasing number of calls due to the Hatfield Fire Department’s limited staffing, Levine said town officials are working with Fire Chief Robert Flaherty on a plan that would make new investments in staffing to ensure better in-town coverage.
At the time, the hope is to have funding available to pay for various shifts so that there is less reliance on mutual aid ambulances coming to town.
“It’s a situation where we’ll be considering every option,” Levine said.
Should Hatfield not be able to make these adjustments in staffing, and the town has to pay the new South County EMS rates, Levine said Hatfield would likely deplete its budget line within a few months.
Scott Merzbach contributed reporting.
