WILTON – Selectmen authorized Town Manager Peter Nielsen to sign a two-year contract with Franklin Memorial Hospital for ambulance service Tuesday. The contract totals $47,434.80 over two years.

The present contract contains a figure of $58,957 for ambulance service to the town. That contract expires in October. Hospital President Richard Batt said the hospital will cut the cost by 50 percent for four months so the new contract can begin July 1 and the present contract can be canceled. The rest of the money that was raised at town meeting for the original amount will be put into surplus.

Selectman Keith Swett said he thinks the hospital should contribute to the cost of ambulance service since the hospital makes 100 percent of the profits. But Batt said the hospital does not actually make a profit. Batt said that many times patients are not taken to the hospital and other times they are only briefly seen and treated at the hospital. In other circumstances, patients are taken to other hospitals, Batt said.

Batt also said that when the hospital agreed to sponsor ambulance service 10 years ago, it agreed not to cross-subsidize.

“I appreciate your point of view, but our board decides differently,” Batt told Swett. Batt also said the cost to towns has been cut in half from 10 years ago, and the service has been significantly improved. Batt said the new contract is not contingent upon whether other towns that use the service agree to the new contract or not.

The first year of the new contract will cost the town $21,000. The second year will cost $25,200, plus a 4.9 percent charge for expected medical cost of inflation, totaling $26,434.80.

In other business, officials set Monday, Jan. 10, as the date to interview candidates for the code enforcement officer position. Swett and Selectman Norm Gould, who both also serve on the Planning Board, will conduct the interviews with Nielsen. Swett has taken on some of the code enforcement duties since Katharine Shoaps left the position due to a family illness. Nielsen said five people applied for the job.

Officials also set Thursday, Jan. 13, as the date to interview three candidates for the police chief’s position. James Parker retired from that post last September at the age of 62. The full Board of Selectmen will conduct the interviews behind closed doors.

The town originally received 14 applications for the police chief’s position. A search committee reviewed the applications and recommended the three candidates that will be interviewed.