Presque Isle Council approves 2021 budget and gives EMS update

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The Presque Isle City Council approved the city’s 2021 budget in a meeting on Wednesday, an uncontroversial decision that came after councilors ironed out the plan with city staff in several budget workshop meetings.

The Presque Isle City Council unanimously approved a $14.2 million budget for 2021. Revenues were put at $6.9 million and net spending at $7.3 million.

Leaner than last year’s allocations, Puckett said the budget would likely lead to a reduction in the mill rate — the amount of tax payable per $1,000 of the property’s assessed value. The city’s current mill rate is 24.95 mills. The new mill rate will not be set until six or seven months from now, Puckett said.

The budget wasn’t the only economic measure the council took on Wednesday: it unanimously voted to allocate $150,000 from the development fund and a reserve account to fund two new loan programs.

The loan programs will fund renovations to Presque Isle properties, as well as provide loans to individuals who want to start a new business in or expand to Presque Isle. The Winterization and Rental Modernization Program — which attempts to increase energy savings — will provide low-interest loans to Presque Isle property owners, allowing them to update doors, windows and heating systems at their properties.

Presque Isle Fire Chief Darrell White also provided an update on the fire department’s EMS service: the service had received 2,291 calls up to Nov. 30, an increase of 641 calls since that time last year. White said that number would go down next year, as the EMS service no longer provides primary coverage to Fort Fairfield, which began an ambulance service in August.

White said that he wanted to improve the department’s number of transfers: up to November, the department accepted 11 percent (9 out of 80) transfer requests. Most of those transfers are requests from Houlton, Fort Kent and Caribou for medical care south of Aroostook County, White said.

“Honestly, at this point, we’re failing,” White said. “And we all know it.”

White said a potential avenue to performing more transfers was expanding the pool of call department staff members who will work as drivers on transfers, especially those at night and on weekends. He also said Cary Medical Center in Caribou had requested grant funding to address the issue, an effort White supports.

Councilor Michael Chasse said it was vital to increase the transfer rate: it could even save lives.

“Those 71 people are very sick or hurt people being left in a hospital and not getting where they need to go as quickly as possible,” Chasse said. “I don’t feel like we’re the cause of this, but I feel like we need to come up with a solution.”

The council also continued its tradition of dedicating its annual report to someone who has done work for the city by giving the 2020 honor to Chunzeng Wang, a University of Maine at Presque Isle professor. Puckett said Wang had saved the city tens of thousands of dollars while performing geographic information system work on recreation, economic development and property service projects.

In an acceptance speech, Wang said he was happy to facilitate communication between his university and the city. Wang, who grew up in rural China, said that while Presque Isle was not his hometown, he was proud to be a member of the community.

Ten people attended, including city employees. Six out of seven councilors attended.

All of the present councilors wore masks, as did all attendees.

The next Presque Isle City Council will take place in the city council chamber on Jan. 6, 2021.