WOODLAND, Maine — The town of Woodland will hold a special board of selectmen meeting at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 4, to discuss Caribou’s new fire and ambulance contract proposal.
The proposal would increase Woodland’s rate for ambulance services from $11.50 per capita to $100 per capita. Last year the town paid $63,301 for fire services from Caribou and $13,950 for the city’s ambulance services, or about $78,000 in total.
Under Caribou’s new proposal, taxpayers would need to pay $128,875, about $51,000 more than last year.
The increase would raise taxes in Woodland by at least 1 mill, meaning residents with property valued at $100,000, for example, would pay an extra $100 on their annual taxes.
[Woodland wants to join with other towns to negotiate EMS contracts with Caribou]
The town recently voted to appoint Selectman William Barnum to a committee made up of representatives from the towns affected by the sudden rate increase. The towns want to try to negotiate with the Caribou City Council for what they consider a fairer rate.
Woodland officials and residents have criticized several aspects of the new proposal, such as Caribou City Council’s decision to discuss the new rates in executive session and what factors led the city to significantly increase the price after Fire and Ambulance Chief Scott Susi’s earlier proposal of a 2 percent increase in the rate.
Caribou officials maintain that the rate increases are necessary to sustain the department and that ambulance services across the state and country have been in decline due to federal and state insurance reimbursement rates that no longer pay the actual operation costs.
Woodland and officials from surrounding towns such as Perham have also criticized the city’s decision to initially give surrounding towns just over one month to make a decision after proposing the new rates in mid-December.
The January deadline has since been changed to March 31, and Woodland officials have said in previous meetings that they want to utilize as much of this time as they can in order to determine the best choice for the town’s residents.
