At a recent Planning Board meeting, a member suggested the cost of the new Stockbridge Fire House would be $50 million. I responded that I believed the cost was actually $7 million. I misspoke. The building cost is just $5 million.
I believe the biggest challenge we will face is not funding the building, but staffing the eight full-time EMTs to provide Stockbridge and West Stockbridge with 24-7-365 coverage of ambulance service, critical to our aging communities. The average age in Massachusetts is 39. The average in Stockbridge is over 60. An ambulance that shows up with six minutes saves lives. An ambulance from a surrounding town that takes 20 minutes to show up costs lives.
I had a chance to speak with a 24-year-old EMT for Southern Berkshire Ambulance who was lunching at Elm Street recently. He agreed that the single most important benefit we could bring to the table as we try to recruit EMTs was to provide housing they could afford on salaries that range in the $40k-$50k per year range. With apartment costs in our region ranging from $1,500 to $2,000 per month or more, these jobs don't pay enough to be able to afford housing. This, right here, is why we should accept our designation as a Seasonal Community and work towards providing the municipal employee housing we will desperately need to keep our community safe.
