Village to provide fire and ambulance coverage for Rhinebeck protective district under amended contract

The Village of Rhinebeck approved an amendment on a voice vote to expand its fire services contract to include the Town of Rhinebeck Protective District, effective April 1, 2025.

The amendment, presented at the board meeting as a summary of a Town-approved agreement, sets the annual cost at $51,810 and was prorated for the remainder of 2025 to $41,107. The town board has already signed the contract.

The change makes the village's fire department the contracted provider for the protective district. Village speakers said the village already responds regularly to calls in the Hillside area under preexisting mutual-aid and voluntary response arrangements and that the amended contract will pay the village for services it has been providing without compensation.

Board members and the fire department discussed operational details: the Hillside Fire District will continue to exist and levy taxes on its residents, mutual-aid agreements with neighboring departments remain available, and village equipment and ambulance services will continue to be staged from the village building. Speakers said the village currently has 10 to 12 members who live in the protective district and that the department will continue to use mutual aid when multiple or simultaneous calls require additional coverage.

A motion to approve the amendment was made and seconded; the board voted verbally in favor.

The board also noted an option in the amendment to extend the contract for one additional year into 2026, to be evaluated later in the calendar year. The town had already approved and signed its portion of the agreement, and village officials said they had discussed the arrangement with the fire department and that department leadership supported the amendment.

The board did not provide a roll-call vote tally in the meeting record; approval was recorded by voice vote.