Selectboard accepts revised warrant including ambulance per-call funding options

Town staff told the selectboard at the June 3 meeting that a revised town warrant for the June 21 town meeting includes three options related to per-call funding for Union Ambulance Corp and requests that the article be decided by paper ballot.

Staff said the ambulance vendor had provided "two or three different numbers, but nothing has been set in stone," noting uncertainty in the per-call estimate. The staff member said the town's call history for the past three years averages roughly 198 to 200 calls annually and observed that, under one $2,000-per-call scenario, the total cost would be about $398,000.

"I've heard a,000. I've heard 2,000," the staff member said, acknowledging the range of figures the town had been given and emphasizing that the exact per-call amount remained undecided.

Town staff also reminded the board of legal and budgetary line items: the administration holds $10,000 overall for legal services split across advertising, deeds, general and litigation lines, and the town could shift training grant funds to cover increased legal work if necessary.

A board member moved to accept the revised warrant for inclusion on the June 21 agenda; another member seconded the motion and the board approved the revised warrant placement without a recorded roll-call vote.

The warrant will appear on the town meeting agenda with the three options and the recommended paper-ballot procedure; the selectboard and the budget committee had originally recommended Option A, staff said.