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Public Meetings to Begin on EMS Regionalization Study

Posted: October 1, 2026

POWNAL - A study report on regionalization options for Southshire rescue squads will be rolled out to the public in a series of meetings in the towns involved – beginning during a Pownal Select Board meeting on Thursday.

Regional Planner Nick Zaiac of the Bennington County Regional Commission, which has been assisting a working group of EMS officials in exploring regionalization options, will meet with the Pownal board during its 6 p.m. meeting.

Local squad directors are also expected to speak about the effort, which aims to rein in the escalating cost of providing emergency services.

"Woodford and Shaftsbury are expected to talk about this at their next regular [select board] meetings, Zaiac said Wednesday in an email, adding, "Bennington has indicated that it will be a month or so before they have a meeting to focus on this but has not set the date specifically."

Regionalization options
What is called the Southshire EMS Stabilzation Alternatives Report notes in an executive summary, "Emergency medical services (EMS) are essential to the functioning of the southern Bennington County (Southshire) area. Facing both local and broader trends that threaten the stability of these services, a group of stakeholders convened to produce this report on stabilization of EMS in towns served by the Bennington Rescue Squad and Pownal Rescue Squad. This report analyzes alternative options for provision of EMS in these areas based on models employed elsewhere in the United States and in the context of Vermont."

The 21-page report adds, "The group recommended a preferred alternative of a Union Municipal District for regional EMS. It recommends stakeholders take immediate action to facilitate implementation of this alternative to ensure continuity of EMS throughout the Southshire area."

The task force group includes representatives of both staff and the governing boards of the Bennington Rescue Squad and Pownal Rescue Squad, as well as representatives of the select boards of each of the towns to be served.

Expenses and revenue
The group's report cites cost-influencing trends in the EMS field, including "a decline in volunteership, a decline in private donations to public service provision groups (including fire, EMS, parks, and other services); increases in the costs of ambulances and EMS supplies; increases in costs of EMS labor, driven by lack of housing availability and statewide health insurance costs; cost pressures on the municipal tax base driven by employee health care costs, lack of taxable new construction, and inadequate long-range municipal capital planning for replacement of infrastructure."

Other factors cited include "Vermont's high frequency of non-transport EMS calls, piecemeal emergency dispatch landscape, irregular demand for hospital transfer services, and the state's unclear path for individuals to enter the EMS profession."

The group reviewed information from both the Bennington and Pownal Rescue squads, "including governance, finances, and service provision. It also reviewed information from the state of Vermont regarding EMS service provision statewide. It reviewed local taxpayer support for two other EMS agencies serving Bennington County, the Arlington and Northshire Rescue Squads."

Preferred alternative
The report lists the options for going forward, including a merger of the Bennington and Pownal nonprofit rescue squads; reorganization of the Pownal Rescue Squad into an all-volunteer EMS agency to provide ambulance services in Pownal; or taking no action at this time.

Other alternatives the group explored were an inter-local contract to provide services in participating towns or the formation of a union municipal district.

The preferred alternative was to form a union municipal district to provide EMS services.

This alternative, the report stated, "would include a merger of BRS and PRS as outlined in Alternative 1, and allow for towns choosing not to participate in the Union Municipal District to establish contracts with the district."

A suggested implementation timeline shows outreach about the proposal to begin in October in the towns and for the Bennington and Pownal squads to begin merger discussions toward implementation.

The first town meeting votes regarding the proposal would take place during the March 2027 town meeting.

The transition to a Union Municipal District could begin in the summer or fall next year and the entity could begin operating by November 2027, and the first district taxes could be levied in calendar year 2028.

Compliments of: The Bennington Banner
Posted/Author: Jim Therrian

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