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Old Town council keeps per-capita ambulance billing after briefing on proposal
Summary
After a detailed briefing on a proposal to blend per-capita and historical run-data billing, the Old Town council expressed support for retaining the current per-capita model, citing capital costs, grant uncertainty and equity concerns for lower-use towns.
Old Town — The City Council heard a detailed briefing Feb. 3 from Fire Chief Kyle Mil on ambulance billing options and indicated it will keep the current per-capita billing method rather than adopt Bradley’s proposed blended model.
Chief Mil told the council the town separates ambulance and fire budgets and offsets ambulance costs with roughly $500,000 in annual revenue from insurance and patient payments. He said capital equipment — including recently purchased monitors and two Lucas CPR devices — is not included in the routine per-capita calculation and that grant funding has covered some high-cost items.
"My suggestion is the fairest way is the per-capita rate," Mil said, arguing the method treats every resident equally and is simpler to administer. He presented call-volume data showing 2,200 total calls in the most recent year and a breakdown by contract community.
Under Bradley’s proposal, 50% of the charge would be based on town population and 50% on historical run data. Mil used 2022 figures to illustrate that Bradley’s share would fall while Old Town’s share would increase by roughly $50,000 under the new formula. Councilors and staff raised concerns that redistributing capital and fire-side costs would raise Old Town’s net burden and complicate billing.
An audience member suggested the council quantify differences using mileage, response time and labor hours to make proposals more transparent. Councilors thanked the chief for the analysis and, without a formal vote changing policy, indicated they preferred to retain the current per-capita approach pending any further negotiated agreement among all contract communities.
The council did not adopt a new billing formula at the meeting; any future change would require further study and agreement among the six contract municipalities.
