AUBURN — Commissioners closed in Wednesday on a fee schedule that would charge a dozen Androscoggin County towns for dispatching emergency services, yet would ease the burden on Lewiston and Auburn taxpayers.

The plan calls for per-capita fees to be charged to the towns: $2 per person in the community for answering the calls, $6.15 per person for dispatching a town police department and $2.50 per person for dispatching rescue and fire services.

Lewiston and Auburn would still pay a substantial share of the county’s total dispatching costs — about $118,000 in Lewiston and $101,000 in Auburn — but nearly one-third of the $600,000 total would be raised by fees.

“It may not get it down as much as Lewiston and Auburn may like, but it seems fair to me because they’re not paying for services they did pay for before,” Commissioner Elaine Makas said.

The two cities have their own dispatch center in Auburn. Through the tax levy, residents would continue to pay a substantial share of the county’s cost of talking with its deputies.

The fee schedule is not certain. Commissioners still have to vote, which is tentatively scheduled for their next meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 17.

“I say, ‘Let’s notify the communities and see if they can come down here,'” Sheriff Guy Desjardins said. “The sooner, the better.”

Finding a way to share the costs of dispatching that seems fair to the county’s small towns and its cities has eluded leaders for years.

The proposed fees copy a similar schedule that was created by the town of Lisbon, which is offering dispatching services to some local towns.

If the measure is approved, fees could run from about $3,000 in Wales, which has about 1,600 residents and already contracts its fire and rescue calls with a Kennebec County agency, to more than $18,000 for Lisbon, which has about 9,000 residents and must contract for its call-answering.

“We had to increase our revenue,” Desjardins said. “No one is getting a free ride.”

dhartill@sunjournal.com

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