WATERVILLE, Maine (WABI) – Staffing a third ambulance is still in question for the Waterville City Council.
The City Council met Tuesday night to finalize the city’s budget. Two weeks ago, the first round of discussion resulted in a split vote on staffing either four or eight new members for the Waterville Fire Department for a third ambulance.
Tuesday night, the City Manager proposed just over two hundred thousand dollars to be set aside to pay for a solution moving forward.
It was unanimously approved by the council.
The next few months will see both the Fire Department and a private ambulance service, Delta, studying the effects of the closure of Northern Light Inland Hospital on the city’s emergency services and additional ambulance runs to Augusta.
Through that study, council members will decide whether to put the money toward the Fire Department or into paying Delta.
“We’re recognizing that there’s an increase in service needed,” commented City Councilor for Ward 4 Rebecca Green. “We’re recognizing that there’s a cost to it, and we’re taking some time to study that and look at some solutions that are going to be sustainable.”
“If we all recognize the need, I don’t understand, taking more time to me puts the city at risk, puts the residents at risk and it also adds more burden to the staff that we already have in Waterville. So, I don’t understand why we would not invest in them as opposed to waiting,” said City Councilor for Ward 7 Cathy Herard.”
The new budget passed by the council Tuesday will add just 14 cents to the city’s tax rate per one thousand dollars of assessed property valuation.
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