LIVERMORE – It appears that town subsidies for Community Emergency Services, the local ambulance, will increase next year despite efforts to keep them stable.

That news was delivered to town officials Monday night by Jill Berry-Bowen, CES’s chief operating officer, and Olin Johnson, who oversees ambulance services for Franklin Memorial Hospital. Also attending was Felicia Harris, who heads the local service.

Proposed for the three towns served by CES is an overall increase of nearly $28,000, from $110,894 to $138,332.

The increase would be divided according to a formula and would find Livermore’s share going up from $22,622 this year to $28,219 next.

For Jay, the increase means its payments would go from $53,562 to $66,814, and for Livermore Falls, the increase would boost payments from $34,710 this year to $43,298 next.

Johnson said the service had a slight increase in calls due to the aging population.

“Medicare and Medicaid calls are going up and government support is down,” he said. “It’s not a pretty picture.”

Although provisions in the new Medicare law may help, nothing is certain now, they noted. The service is waiting for federal rate releases due in the spring, they explained.

The services also wants to make a change in staffing for its second unit.

The first unit is fully staffed by personnel at the service’s base and the second is served by on call people who may or may not be at the base.

The proposed change would be in the 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift when the second truck would be staffed by first responders who live locally.

FMH also wants the towns to enter into a three year contract to build stability. The contract language would provide for re-evaluation of issues prior to the beginning of each fiscal year.

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