BUDDY HYDE
Complaints by citizens on fixed incomes about Nottoway County’s new tax levies for Fire and EMS were addressed Thursday night by Emergency Services Coordinator Buddy Hyde. “Guess who the number one caller of EMS is?” Hyde told the Board of Supervisors. “People on fixed incomes. And the geriatric population is growing. It’s going to get worse. People on fixed incomes are going to call 9-1-1, and we’re here. We go to absolutely everybody, and we treat them all the same.”
Hyde also told Supervisors that Nottoway County has 120 fire and EMS volunteers and that if the County had to pay them average salaries and benefits, it would cost $7.8 million annually.
Supervisor Bo Toth said that number is inflated because if Nottoway relied solely on paid fire and EMS, the number of necessary employees would be fewer than 120.
Hyde didn’t disagree, and he and Toth also agreed that Nottoway is blessed to have volunteers because they reduce the number of paid staff actually needed.
Toth said that in all probability, “About 25 percent of volunteers do 100 percent of the work.”
Hyde alluded to comments he’s heard about another matter and that he’s “not happy about it. The person has not called me or asked me questions…I’m not calling names, I’m going to be professional about it…this is not my first rodeo.”
Loading Comments