The team at Malta-Stillwater EMS has been serving Saratoga County for decades.

“We provide advanced life support, mobile medics, health to the community,” said Mike Evans, director of operations.

But things have changed over the years. The population is growing and getting older. So EMS services are needed more than ever. 

“Our call volume between 2011 and 2018 doubled,” said Evans. “This year, we’re on par to do about 3,800, which is going to be an 18% increase.”

It’s why residents in Malta are being asked to approve a new ambulance district on Nov. 2.

“We’re funded now through the general fund,” said Evans. “The idea is to try to separate that funding out for us so that they can use the rest of those funds for other things, like infrastructure.”

It already works in nearby Stillwater.

“We are one of two in the entire county that does not currently have an ambulance district,” said Evans.

It would cost homeowners living in a house assessed at $250,000 about $43 a year.

The guaranteed funding would help ensure adequate emergency services for Malta’s 16,000-plus residents and the village of Round Lake.

“What they’re getting is a top-notch organization,” said Evans. “We’ve always been ahead of the curve looking at technology.”

A previous attempt at establishing an ambulance district was tabled several years ago, but the pandemic brought the issue again to the forefront.

“Not that we didn’t see COVID, but COVID really opened our eyes to a lot of things and what we can and what we can’t do during those times,” Evans said.