The town of Dublin has found that alternatives to Peterborough’s ambulance service are few and far between.
Selectmen tasked Fire Chief Tom Vanderbilt in November to look for other options after Peterborough’s ambulance service increased the town’s yearly bill by 74 percent. Vanderbilt met with the board Monday.
“It’s a shame that we can’t have more oversight and input [with Peterborough,]” said Vanderbilt. “It’s impacting taxpayers big time here.”
Vanderbilt said he checked into DiLuzio Ambulance Services and Jaffrey-Rindge Memorial Ambulance but neither companies were willing to take on Dublin at this time. The town starting its own ambulance service, according to Vanderbilt, would be too costly and hard to staff.
Dublin’s bill this year was $43,885, up from last year’s $25,400. The bill includes the town’s share of the services, $231,623 in budget shortfalls, $88,222 in capital planning, a 10 percent administrative fee, and a five percent assumption of risk fee.
Vanderbilt said things could change in the future, as a number of nearby towns are contemplating changing services or starting their own service.
While it could work in the town’s favor, as a spot at DiLuzio or another service could open up, it could also lead to a more costly bill.
“I’m wondering what happens if other towns start bailing [from Peterborough’s service,]” said Select Board chair Sturdy Thomas.
Currently, Dublin pays 10.2 percent of the Peterborough ambulance budget shortfall and 911 share of its capital plan (60 percent of the total capital plan). The percentage the town pays is a blended computation, averaging the percent of population and 911 calls in the fiscal year 2015 compared to Peterborough and the four other towns served.
If a town were to stop using Peterborough’s service, the cost could increase for the other towns, as the percentage of cost each town would have to pay would increase.
Vanderbilt said another option would be to contract through a private company such as MedStar Ambulance of Massachusetts or AMR of Manchester, but the cost would likely be just as much as continuing with Peterborough.
“For next year, we will have to use Peterborough,” said Town Administrator Sherry Miller. “You have to have an ambulance service.”
Peterborough Ambulance has said that the rise in fees is a result of the call volume increasing more than the revenue stream from those calls.
In 2015, Peterborough responded to 241 more calls than the previous year, but only saw a 0.3 percent increase in revenue. Dublin was not the only town to balk at the rising ambulance fees this past year.
“I’m in favor of proper care, but this is becoming cost-prohibitive,” said Greenfield Fire Chief David Hall during an Oct. 29 Select Board meeting. “We’re not ready to start our own ambulance service right now for a number of reasons, and I think that we would need to partner with another town to make it feasible.”
Nicholas Handy can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 235.