MEXICO — The Board of Selectmen voted 5-0 Tuesday to pay an unexpected $10,480 assessment from Med-Care Ambulance, Town Manager Jack Gaudet said Friday.

At their regular board meeting a week earlier, selectmen said the extra money was not budgeted so they voted to hold a special town meeting Tuesday, March 12.

That meeting will not happen, Gaudet said.

Instead, the board said the extra assessment will be paid from the town’s contingency account.

Gaudet said he believes residents would have OK’d the Med-Care payment at the special town meeting.

Further, the board decided not to go to arbitration over the issue, which would have cost the town more money.

On Feb. 19, Selectman Reggie Arsenault, a Mexico representative on the Med-Care Ambulance board, explained that an immediate one-time $4 per capita assessment asked of Mexico and the 10 other member towns stems from an immediate cash flow shortage.

He said the unpredictability of Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance has created continued cash flow issues that affect daily operations.

Arsenault said part of the problem is that “a lot of people have Obamacare with a high deductible and are not paying their bills. We have $60,000 to $70,000 in write-offs each year. It was a hard decision to make, but it’s needed to keep a viable service.”

The one-time assessments to other member towns are: $3,726 for Andover; $580 for Byron; $3,784 for Canton; $2,248 for Carthage; $9,852 for Dixfield; $944 for Hanover; $1,320 for Newry; $6,236 for Peru; $1,444 for Roxbury; and $22,564 for Rumford.

bfarrin@sunmediagroup.net

 

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