New ambulance, department consolidation articles pass

New ambulance, department consolidation articles pass

Fire chief expects ambulance revenues to double

Eryn Dion News Staff Writer

 TEMPLETON — Templeton’s Fire and EMS Department will soon have a new ambulance on the road after a positive vote at Saturday’s Special Town Meeting.

The vote allows interim Town Administrator Bob Markel — who acts as the town’s chief procurement officer — to use $57,000 from the ambulance receipts to fund the first year of a five-year lease of a new ambulance.

The ambulance will be equipped for Advanced Life Support, offering an upgrade from the Basic Life Support service of the department’s current ambulance, while also improving service and increasing the ambulance’s revenue streams.

Templeton’s ambulance service responds to around 1,000 calls each year, according to Fire Chief Raymond LaPorte, with each call amounting to around $500.

At Saturday’s meeting, Chief LaPorte explained that the ambulance service generates about $19,000 per month and — while he didn’t know the exact amount available in the receipts fund — it was more than enough to cover the lease.


The outright cost for a new ALS-equipped ambulance would total about $285,000, Chief LaPorte said, which is why the department hopes to spread the cost over five years. He also anticipated ambulance revenues doubling after the new ambulance is put into service.

The department’s current ambulance is 14 years old and was scheduled to be replaced in 2007. It will be sold after the procurement of the new ambulance.

Also approved during Saturday’s meeting was the consolidation of the Town Treasurer Office and Tax Collector Office — sending the article to a second vote at the annual Town Election in May.

According to Advisory Board Chairman Wilfred Spring, around 80 percent of the surrounding communities have a combined treasurer/collector position and the move will save the town about $15,000 a year.

Throughout the town’s budget crisis, complaints have been leveled at the treasurer’s office and the quality of work that was produced.

Residents were concerned about condensing the departments and placing a heavier workload on fewer people, but Selectmen Kenn Robinson explained that the town could offer better pay and attract better talent with less people.

The $505,000 Proposition 2 1/2 tax override that was approved during the meeting will also need to appear on the May 5 ballot for a second vote.