Selectmen seek to question Lifestar Ambulance representative
By Noreen Coolidge
Special to the Sun Journal

WILTON – Selectmen made few changes to a proposed municipal budget when they reviewed it Tuesday.

They tabled making any recommendation on the Lifestar Ambulance subsidy that is growing.

This year Lifestar is asking the town to pay $58,957. Last year the town paid $37,968. Town Manager Peter Nielsen said that amount is expected to increase to $72,817 next year, dropping to $66,682 the following year.

Nielsen said the ambulance subsidy is based on population and is higher as a result of a decrease in Medicaid funding. Selectman Keith Swett said when he contacted Lifestar he was told the amount is not negotiable. If the town chooses to pay less, Lifestar will not service Wilton, Swett said.

“Don’t they realize they will lose money if they don’t come to Wilton?” Chairman Jeff Rowe asked. “If they have a losing business maybe they should get out of the business,” he added.

Officials agreed to ask representatives from the ambulance service to attend a Finance Committee meeting, the next step in the town’s budget process, to explain the subsidy and answer questions. They tabled making any recommendation on that account until then.

Selectman Rodney Hall suggested decreasing the selectmen’s pay as a show of good faith since the town asked department heads to hold the line on their spending or decrease their total budgets for the 2004-05 year. The pay will be cut from $1,800 apiece to $1,710 each. “I think it’s only fair,” Hall said.

Nielsen also asked selectmen’s authorization to give the cruiser he uses to the town’s Water and Sewer Department. Officials agreed. Nielsen will now use his personal vehicle.

Nielsen said the car would not take a sticker this year. Repairs to the car will cost about $675. Nielsen said he could not see using taxpayer money to fix the car. He said the Water and Sewer Department has funds to fix the car that are not generated by taxes.

Two percent cost of living pay increases were seen across the board, but all municipal accounts show proposed budgets at or slightly lower than last year, with the exception of a slight increase in the summer and winter highway accounts.

The library account, which increased more than 11 percent last year, shows a decrease of $430 this year. Librarian and Director Vaughan Gagne said an extra $12,500 in grant funds along with extra funds from fund raising allowed her to cut the budget some this year. Still, she said, the library will be running on a “shoestring” budget.

The library has received nothing for repairs since 1996. It has also received nothing over the past two years for a capital reserve account created in 1997 to make the library handicap accessible. Gagne said the library will attempt to raise funds on its own for that purpose. Selectmen agreed to remove those two accounts from the budget, but said Gagne could ask for them to be reinstated in the future.

The police department budget includes only $10,000 for its vehicle purchase reserve account this year. That is a decrease of $13,310 from last year for that line item. Chief James Parker said the department will skip purchasing a vehicle this year to keep the budget down. Parker said the department’s three cruisers are in good shape.

Nielsen said he expects the amount to be raised by taxation this year will be about $70,000 less than originally anticipated because the expected costs for SAD 9 “looks more favorable.” He said the combined budget total is expected to be $24,890 less than last year. Nielsen said once town valuations come through, there may be more of a decrease. The annual town meeting will be held in June.

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