WILTON – The proposed operating budget for the ambulance service is down about 6.5 percent from last year. The total proposed budget is $550,697. The 2019 figure was $625,181.

The proposed budget was presented by the Budget Committee on Thursday, Jan. 15. Service Director Steve Desrosiers and officials of the contributing towns were present. The costs are currently divided among the member towns, Greenfield, Lyndeborough, Temple and Wilton using a formula which includes call for service with Wilton, as the owner of the service, covering 51 percent of the operating costs.

Temple officials have questioned the percentages, set at 16.3 percent, as unrealistic and unfair to them and they feel they are “subsidizing the other towns.” They have suggested using population in figuring the percentages. Selectman Ken Caisse said they had been promised a discussion of the figures by the Ambulance Advisory Committee, but no changes have been made.

“They said they didn’t have enough data to make the changes,” he said. Greenfield joined the service last year so there are no historical data from them.

“I’ve gotten the figures,” Caisse said, “and the consensus (in Temple) is we’ll try to work with Wilton to get this resolved as soon as possible. We are all bound by our contract, and we have to respect that.”

The contract requires a one-year notice to leave the service.

The service responded to 689 emergencies last year, 49 percent in Wilton, and 10.3 percent in Temple.

Budget Committee Vice-chairman Harry Dailey questioned the emergency response vehicle, which is taken home by a responder who might live in another town who is on call during low activity hours to speed up response time.

“I was asked to reduce response time,” Desrosiers said, “and this is the best option since the paramedic has the vehicle at home and can respond immediately to the emergency,” without first going to the ambulance bay in Wilton.

The current staffing model has three people at the station Monday-Friday 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., leaving one person available if the second ambulance is needed. Dailey suggested increasing the staffing to four people would be cheaper and more logical than using the response (called the ‘fly truck’) vehicle.

Lyndeborough Selectman Fred Douglas called the response vehicle “a life-safety issue” where the outlying parts of the area were concerned, noting North Lyndeborough and a similar distance to parts of Temple of Greenfield.

Dailey also noted the current uncertainty of continued dispatch services from Milford Area Communications Center and the ownership of the ambulance bay.

Desrosiers said no radios would be purchased at this time because of the questions with MACC; he added that he had “cut his budget in every place possible.” Insurance costs, however, have risen.

The service was established in 1974 as the Wilton-Lyndeborough Volunteer Ambulance and Rescue Association. Since then it has undergone many changes and is now 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with professional staff as well as the volunteers, about 35 people, both paid and on-call.