POLAND — Costs associated with the proposed emergency call service for Androscoggin County are not sitting well with the Select Board and Town Manager Matt Garside.
According to figures furnished by the county, Poland’s county taxes could increase by nearly $222,000.
Androscoggin County Sheriff Eric Samson discussed the proposal at Tuesday night’s Select Board meeting.
The proposal, which could go into effect by July 2022, has the Androscoggin County emergency dispatch center merging with the Lewiston-Auburn Emergency Communications System. The two would be under the county’s jurisdiction.
Garside said Poland pays a little over $100,000 a year to the county for dispatch service.
If the plan goes through as presented, Poland would have to pay an additional $222,000 to get the same level of service.
“It doesn’t make sense to me,” Garside said.
At the same time, Lewiston and Auburn “almost save over a million bucks between the two of them,” Garside added.
“Maybe we can revisit our re-proportioning costs,” he said.
Samson said the proposal is still being evaluated and county commissioners have not made any decisions about it.
He said the cost-sharing scenario is based on a template done by a Pennsylvania consulting firm from a study done in 2008.
In other business, the board set the tax rate at $15.10 per $1,000 of property valuation, an increase of 12 cents.
Deputy Town Manager Nikki Pratt said a property valued at $150,000 would pay an additional $18.
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