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Budget workshop highlights steep Fire/EMS increases and a contentious debate over 24/7 ambulance staffing
Summary
Committee members spent most of the workshop reviewing fire and EMS budgets as staffing and wage proposals push public-safety costs sharply higher; officials also flagged rising call volumes and growing ambulance-billing revenue, and asked staff to provide clearer run-location and revenue data ahead of the town meeting.
Budget officials and department leaders spent the bulk of the workshop on fire and EMS finances, where proposed wage and staffing changes produced the most substantial increases in the draft spending plan.
David O'Brien, the department director, said wages and stipends were updated and that previously approved captain stipends had not been filled, creating temporary variances in line amounts. He described rising call volumes and the trade-offs involved in staffing models: "If you look at what the town meeting did, it was 317 and now it's up to 489," a presenter said during the numerical review, explaining that moving toward continuous coverage raises personnel costs sharply.
Several committee members pushed back on proposals to create a new, near‑full‑time supervisory position or to convert the service to a fully staffed 24/7 model. Members warned that labor‑classification rules could force a new long‑hour position to be treated as full time with benefits, potentially more than doubling the personnel cost for that role. One committee member suggested the town might ultimately need a full‑time fire chief; others favored a phased approach and asked staff to model a lower‑cost 'driver + paramedic' staffing baseline for the town‑meeting vote.
Officials also reviewed operational improvements: new captain‑level scheduling was credited with reducing overtime; training and contracted‑service lines were adjusted after reconciling duplicate entries; and the committee noted neighboring towns moving to full‑time EMS staffing, increasing regional pressure on small towns to adapt.
On revenue, staff reported ambulance billing is growing and can offset some cost increases: the budget assumed $175,000 in ambulance billing revenue and the department reported $102,296 in receipts so far this year. Committee members asked staff to provide a breakdown of runs (in‑town vs. mutual aid) and an updated revenue forecast for the budget committee ahead of the town meeting.
The committee did not adopt a final staffing decision during the workshop; members agreed to present multiple staffing scenarios (including a driver+paramedic baseline and a 24/7 model) and to highlight the wage and surplus implications for voters at the town meeting.
