HOULTON, Maine — Should the town lease or purchase new ambulances? That is the question Houlton town councilors were mulling Monday evening as Ambulance Director Milton Cone presented the panel with an update on the town’s emergency services fleet.
Houlton presently has three ambulances — a 2009 Ford with about 169,000 miles on it, a 2010 GM Braun with about 105,000 miles and a 2011 GM Braun with about 214,000 miles. All three vehicles are in need of either costly repairs or replacement, Cone said.
In the past, the town has purchased its ambulances outright, but given the fact that the fleet logs, on average, 117,000 miles per year transporting patients to Bangor and Portland, those vehicles are not lasting as long as they have in previous years.
To illustrate that point, Cone noted that the town still owes about $50,000 on the 2011 vehicle, which is “worn out.”
Cone presented councilors with a proposal to lease four ambulances from Autotronics of Madawaska at a cost of $486,576 over a five-year period.
“I have always asked (Autotronics) if there was a better plan for the town of Houlton,” Cone said. “We feel this proposal would be a better plan for the town, keeping in mind that it addresses vehicle maintenance and gives us a pre-set budget and better reliability of vehicles.”
In the proposal, Autotronics offered to take the department’s three vehicles on trade-in for $18,000. In return, the town would receive four ambulances — two 2006 GMC C4500 Braun units, a 2012 GMC G4500 and a 2015 GMC G4500 Braun with a remount of one of the town’s existing cabins.
Cone explained the two 2006 vehicles are considered “medium duty” rescue vehicles, with a larger chassis and engine designed to last for 300,000-400,000 miles. Both of those units have about 100,000 miles on them.
Cone explained all of the maintenance for the ambulances would be included in the lease package. The town presently spends around $30,000 per year on maintenance for its three ambulances.
One of the town’s ambulances — the 2009 unit — has been at Autotronics’ shop in Bangor in need of engine repairs. The estimated cost to fix that vehicle was around $4,000. Cone said he has been reluctant to authorize the repairs on that vehicle, if they were only going to trade it in as part of the lease. Autotronics has been loaning the town a replacement ambulance at no cost while that model is in its shop.
As part of the agreement, the town would be granted 127,000 miles per year in the lease agreement, and any miles logged over that amount would be charged at a rate of $1.75 per mile.
Some councilors expressed reservations on going the lease route, because at the end of the five-year lease, the town would not own any ambulances. Others expressed concerns that the town was not getting fair trade-in value on its three vehicles.
When the proposal was first brought forth at a Dec. 15 budget meeting, councilors asked if any other communities in the area have tried leasing ambulances. Cone replied there were none that he knew of that had considered this option.
The council ultimately gave a consensus vote of 3-2 to move forward with the plan to purchase two ambulances and rejected the lease concept.
In the proposed 2015 budget, which goes to a public hearing on Jan. 12, Cone said he based his figures on the assumption that the town would go with the lease plan. By switching to an outright purchase of two ambulances, the figure in the proposed budget could change, he said.
