LISBON — A subcommittee was formed at Tuesday night’s Town Council workshop to research options for the Lisbon Emergency, a private and nonprofit ambulance service serving Lisbon and Bowdoin.
During a workshop in July, Sam Smith of Lisbon Emergency presented a budget of $127,884.46 for 2018-19.
Lisbon Emergency receives a little more than 1,000 calls yearly.
It takes about 2,000 calls a year to cover the cost of one ambulance service, Rick Petrie from Atlantic Partners EMS said.
“The reality is that if the community wants the ambulance service, the cost of the ambulance service will far outweigh what you’re actually going to achieve,” Petrie said.
Petrie suggested three options for councilors: keep Lisbon Emergency; combine the Fire Department and Lisbon Emergency; or request proposals for other ambulance services.
Councilors and subcommittee members will make a final decision by Dec. 31.
In other business, councilors voted to send a letter to Gov. Paul LePage to fill the vacancy for Lisbon’s seat in the House of Representatives. It was filled by Gina Mason who passed away unexpectedly last week.
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less