MEXICO – Growing pains, increases in transfers from Rumford Hospital, and a 73-percent hike in call volume over the past decade are among factors driving Med-Care Ambulance’s proposed $2.4 million ambulance station expansion.

Nearing its 20th year in business as of 2008, Med-Care provides emergency medical service for 17,250 people in 11 River Valley area towns and unorganized territories within more than 500 square miles of Oxford County.

“We’ve far outgrown this facility for our operations. We’ve just run out of space,” Director Dean Milligan said early Wednesday afternoon of their two-bay station at 237 Main St. in Mexico.

Med-Care averages 10 calls per shift, according to Assistant Director Chris Moretto.

“When I came in in 1990, I remember we were doing roughly 1,400 calls a year,” he said.

The volume jumped to 2,202 in 1997, and is projected to hit 3,800 by year’s end, Milligan added.

The project will be funded by a 40-year loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Community Facilities at a fixed interest rate of 4.25 percent.

The $2.4 million loan will cover buying the land and construction of a state-of-the-art station, designed to transition into a public safety facility should Rumford, Mexico and Dixfield decide to regionalize their police and fire departments.

“We’re a very willing participant in regionalization. Hopefully, we are the catalyst. Our vision, is, that it will happen,” Milligan said.

Additionally, the facility will have a 50-person training room, which will also be used for Med-Care’s numerous public education programs.

Med-Care is currently negotiating with landowner Alan Archibald of Mexico to buy a 6-acre parcel for between $175,000 and $180,000.

The land is to the right of Region 9 School of Applied Technology and behind the Morrison Motor building off Routes 2 and 17 in Mexico. The 86-foot-by-54-foot complex of offices and living quarters will be complemented by an 80-foot-by-102-foot five-truck ambulance bay, which will house 10 vehicles.

The 13,000-square-foot building will have 107 feet of frontage on Routes 2 and 17.

“This keeps us still centrally located to respond to our coverage area. In the past 12 to 16 months, we’ve looked at all the options. Buying land and putting in a new building was our last option, but, it made more sense to start new rather than renovate an existing building. This is still the best long-term financial option for everybody,” Milligan said.

Med-Care’s 14-member board has the authority to approve the project without going to each town for approval. The directors are from Andover, Byron, Canton, Carthage, Dixfield, Hanover, Mexico, Newry, Peru, Roxbury and Rumford. Because of their populations, Rumford is represented by three directors; Mexico by two; the rest by one each.

On Sept. 12, the board will vote on the project. A public hearing may precede or follow the meeting.

Currently, 86 percent of Med-Care’s $1.5 million in expenses for overall operations is paid for through medical billing. The other 14 percent is covered by subsidies from the 11 towns. The project’s financial impact would increase each town’s subsidy from the current $12 per capita to $19.25 per capita.

“The board’s responsibility is to make sure this company is still a viable company. Some of the towns are concerned about increases in subsidy and impacts and, so are we. The highest total impact on any given taxpayer is just over the cost of one returnable bottle per day to a Mexico resident, and less than the amount of one returnable bottle per day to the other taxpayers in each community,” Milligan said.