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Fryeburg officials press Rescue Services on budget timing, Medicare reimbursement impact
Summary
Fryeburg Select Board heard Rescue Services representative Steve Goldsmith raise concerns about mismatched budget years and potential impacts from Medicare reimbursement changes, and the board agreed to pursue further review before October.
Fryeburg Select Board members on March 26 questioned how proposed changes to Rescue Services’ budgeting and Medicare reimbursement rules could affect local costs and patient billing.
Steve Goldsmith, representing Rescue, told the board that Rescue operates on a calendar-year budget while Fryeburg uses a fiscal year, creating timing and cash-flow challenges if the town and Rescue do not align budget approvals. Goldsmith said unresolved items could have “ramifications” for service funding and requested another meeting before October to attempt to finalize the agreement.
Board member Jim Tyrrell pressed Goldsmith on the impact of recent or pending Medicare legislation and how changes to reimbursements could alter Rescue’s budget requests to the town. Tyrrell also asked for clearer breakdowns of billing and reimbursements and whether the percentage each town pays toward capital costs should be revisited.
Goldsmith acknowledged the complexity of ambulance maintenance costs and mileage-versus-call-volume effects on operating expenses and recommended an additional working session to iron out capital-share calculations and billing protocols ahead of next year’s budget cycle.
The Select Board did not take a formal vote on the Rescue Services Agreement at the meeting; members discussed next steps and agreed that further review—focused on timing, reimbursement assumptions and a clearer capital contribution formula—would be scheduled.
