By Michelle Williams | Michelle.Williams@MassLive.com
In the midst of a surge in coronavirus cases, Massachusetts health officials revised a guidance for making decisions about which patients will receive potentially life-saving care if the system is overwhelmed, and which patients may not.

The guidance, issued earlier this month by state health officials, seeks to help hospitals answer such questions and offer transparency to the families of sick loved ones ahead of the expected surge of COVID-19 cases this month.

It asks hospitals to assign patients a score, ranking them based on likely long-term survival to determine priority for care. Younger, healthier patients were given preference over older adults, as are medical professionals and pregnant women. The highest priority is given to healthy, young patients with the potential to live longer after recovery.

After the document became public, many critics were vocal, worried some in the community would be penalized for health disparities that wouldn’t impact long-term survival.

In response, the guidelines were revised to acknowledge the impact of race and poverty on a person’s health and make clear that a patient’s disability alone is not an appropriate basis to disqualify a patient for potentially life-saving treatment in the event of a shortage of ventilators or beds available in the ICU.

The guidelines now focus on short-term survivability in recommendations for resources including ventilators.

Hi Jeff,

You are going to be FAMOUS!  After hearing your saying Templeton Tough i have connected with a company that makes uniforms for me and they have a web site set up to help out communities that are struggling with the fallout of Covid 19.  On there site people can purchase a tee shirt for 20.00 bucks for every shirt sold we get 10.00 back towards the food pantry!  Attached is a proof of the shirt that will be offered on the site.  What do you think?   Also i am setting up with Unipay on the Templeton Rec page a section where the public can go to make a donation to of cash via check, debit or e check to the food Pantry.  I will let you know when that goes live.  

Thank You,
​
Scott Dill


Recreation Chairman
Town of Templeton

By Steph Solis | ssolis@masslive.com
Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill on Monday that bars evictions and foreclosures from moving forward in Massachusetts until after the COVID-19 state of emergency is lifted, preventing renters and homeowners across the state from being forced out of their homes.

The bill imposes a temporary ban on landlords issuing a notice to quit, which starts the eviction process. It also bars courts from issuing executions, orders that a sheriff or constable could enforce to force someone to move out, and pauses foreclosures.

The Legislature passed the bill, H.4647, on Friday after weeks of negotiations. Rep. Shawn Dooley, who had blocked the bill’s passage on Thursday due to concerns about how the bill would affect landlords, but he relented by Friday.

“This legislation is crucial for public health,” Andrea M. Park, an attorney at Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, said in a statement. “If we are going to stay home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, we must all have a home to stay in.”

The moratorium will last for 120 or 45 days after Baker lifts the state of emergency, according to the bill.

FY2021 budget on warrant shows an increase of $163,565.00 for operations of general government, yet we still need 270 thousand from ambulance receipts to balance budget.

Town levy prop 2 1/2 increase total - $252,740.00

Town general op. increase . . . . . . . . . .$163,565.00

School 2 1/2 increase. . . . . . . . . . . . . . $165,296.00

Total increase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .  ..  .$328,861.00

97% property tax collection, so missing / uncollected 3% = $310,871.00

That ambulance receipts goes toward that 3% loss for the fy (even as we know, one way or another, it will eventually be collected, it is not available for the FY, but we budget as if we have it.

Current and Prior Year Tax Rates - Templeton MA

• FY2020 Tax Rate - $16.83 per $1000
• FY2019 Tax Rate - $17.24 per $1000
• FY2018 Tax Rate - $16.72 per $1000
• FY2017 Tax Rate - $16.12 per $1000
• FY2016 Tax Rate - $16.47 per $1000
• FY2015 Tax Rate - $16.64 per $1000

Updates for Sunday, April 19th, 2020:

Good Afternoon Heywood Family,

• Testing- We have tested 1,585 individuals, and have received 1,253 Negative results, 261 Positives, and 9 Indeterminates
• Positive rate of 17.2% vs. State Rate of 23.2%
• Statewide Statistics-
• Total Specimens Tested: 156,806
• # Virus Detected: 36,372
• % Positive: 23.2%
• 1,560 deaths (4.3% of confirmed cases)
• Worcester County: 2,952 case
• Franklin County: 177

Templeton Ambulance service goes to a billing service:

Annul Town reports are important and when Town departments, boards, committees, commissions submit their information for said annual town report, no one should be altering, editing or leaving out said information.

Templeton Annual Town report of 2005, page 44, "after many meetings, Templeton board of selectmen and fire department members voted to start a paid ambulance service in Town. Templeton fire department operated a volunteer and free ambulance service since its inception."

Continuing the look at Templeton Town ambulance; 2006 annual town report, page 32: Beginning December 15, 2005, (FY2006) Templeton fire dept. began a third party billing service that allowed responding EMTs to be reimbursed for the countless hours spent on medical calls in town.

From the report, page 32; during the beginning of dept. third party billing service, a revolving account was set up to provide a way to not only pay EMS responders, but also to have a place for deposits to be placed to be used for the purchase of much needed medical and rescue equipment.

Also from the same report, page 31, EMS brought in $44,022.94 to the revolving account and $43,874.20 was expended, leaving $148.74 to be returned to the town. (general fund).

May 10, 2006, annual town meeting voted $125,000.00 for EMS expenses for fiscal year 2007. (article #22)

2007 Templeton annual town report, page 30, reported that being the first full year with third party billing, EMS brought in more money than expected, more money was needed for EMT stipends than was voted at town meeting, so a transfer of $22,500.00 from the town reserve fund was made for a total of EMS expense at $147,500.00, which not only went to EMT stipends but to cover billing company and ALS percentages (money spent to cover those added costs - the town was not yet at the ALS level).

From the same report, page 31, as the year progressed, there were 157 more ambulance calls than the previous year. As these calls added expense to the EMS amount voted at town meeting and the transfer out of town reserve fund, the service brought in more revenue than projected; $208,194.92.

I have not yet found records, but I believe this is where the previously created revolving fund was eliminated, as the EMS revenue was seen as a boom to town general fund revenue. (sound familiar)

In true Tempeton fashion, at the 2007 annual town meeting, an amount of $125,000.00 for EMS expense was voted - article 19, May 16.

2008 Templeton annual town report, page 28, At special town meeting on November 29, 2007 (fiscal year 2008) On a motion duly made and seconded the Town voted to raise and appropriate the sum of Ten Thousand ($10,000.00) to supplement the Fire Department/EMS Division expenses account for payroll and supplies. Passed/ November 29th @ 7:25

There was also a transfer of $20,000.00 from the town's reserve fund for EMS expenses. At the end of the day, medical billing brought in $224,701.74 and turned into the town general fund.

I believe the increase in ambulance receipts to the general fund over time made it hard and for some, to speak against creating an ambulance receipts fund, because the loss of revenue to the general fund would be hard to make up for and now you can see how and why the ambulance service is underfunded, as in lump sum disallows by the town administrator; it is easier to underfund the ambulance service than it is to make some hard decisions on the general fund side. In 2011, an ambulance receipts fund was created to begin in fiscal year 2013 and that is the year the town went down the path to town provided ALS ambulance service.

Fast forward to the present - transfers from ambulance receipts to general fund began again in fiscal year 2018 - at 2017 annual town meeting.

Doing some reading on the Templeton monthly expenditure reports - Ambulance receipts. (I read one email; "we will build it up over time") So I went back to the beginning of fiscal year 2020 (July 1, 2019 - to date)

Page 5 of monthly expenditure report shows:

Beginning balance (allocated) $406,863.03

Expended (town meeting transfer) $270,000.00

Amount left (ending) $136,863.00

March 31, 2020 - ending $305,446.46

Right now the warrant for annual town meeting shows a request for a transfer from ambulance receipts of $270,000.00.

FY2018 annual town meeting records show a transfer from ambulance receipts of $225,000.00. FY2019 annual town meeting records show a transfer from ambulance receipts of $250,000.00. FY2020 monthly expenditure record shows transfer of $270,000.00.

The transfers of money went to support the general fund, which we are now being told cannot fully fund the ambulance service - lack of money.