By Betty Lilyestrom, correspondent
Telegram & Gazette (Massachusetts)
Copyright 2006 Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Inc.
LEICESTER, Mass. — Selectmen last night voted to seek the purchase of a new second-line ambulance rather than repair the existing vehicle, but how to pay for it is still very much up in the air.
In a report to the board, Fire Chief Robert F. Wilson said the cost estimate for repairing the rear modular unit of the second-line ambulance, which has been ordered off the road because of structural damage, is $18,500, plus another $3,000 to $4,000 for electrical repairs and an unknown additional amount for structural damages that have already been discovered or might turn up during the repair process.
“I don’t recommend that we spend that kind of money to repair a vehicle with a chassis that is eight years old and has 80,000 miles on it and a rear modular unit that is 12 years old with an excess of 180,000 working miles,” the chief said in a written report. “I recommend that we purchase a new vehicle instead, as soon as possible.”
The chief said another problem about going with a repair is that the work could not start until July 1 and would take 1.5 to two months, longer if additional structural damage were discovered during the repairs.
He said that care for local patients is being delayed because of the long wait for a second ambulance to come to the area.
The chief’s suggestion was to have the town approach the state Department of Revenue for permission to purchase a new ambulance immediately, without waiting for a town meeting to provide the funding but with the promise to replenish the money at a planned town meeting in the fall. The town was granted such permission last year when its first-line ambulance was totaled in an accident and the money was replaced at the annual town meeting in May.
Town Administrator Robert Reed said that situation is still unresolved because there was not enough money in the ambulance reserve account to make up the difference, but additional receipts in the account by the end of the current fiscal year might be enough without having to seek money from other sources.
Selectman Richard Antanavica said it is unlikely that the ambulance reserve account would ever again be able to provide the $85,000 to $87,000 needed to buy a new ambulance, or even the $25,000 needed for the first year’s payment if the funds were borrowed.
“We don’t have the money in the ambulance reserve account that we used to have,” Mr. Antanavica said. “Reimbursement funds from such areas as Medicare and Medicaid are down, and our costs for paying on-call paramedics and other EMTs are up. We would have enough money there to pay for our services and wages and maybe enough to pay for part of the cost of a new ambulance, but not the total cost.”
He said the fire chief had looked into contracting with a private ambulance company to station a vehicle in town around the clock, but determined that the cost of $100,000 for a year would be unsupportable by existing town funds.
Selectmen were unanimous in their decision to go the purchase route, but Mr. Reed said the town would have to find other sources of funds. Borrowing, using funds planned for other capital purchases or using free cash that will be available at the fall special town meeting were among the possibilities, he said. But to make the purchase as soon as possible, all parties agreed that the first step would be to get the Department of Revenue’s permission to deficit spend.
In other business last night, selectmen granted Cumberland Farms permission to install three underground fuel storage tanks at the new combination store and gas station it is building at 1530-1534 Main St. but put off action on a request by Wal-Mart for installation of six 1,000-gallon propane tanks at its location under construction about a mile west on Route 9.
The Cumberland Farms request, which had approval from the Planning Board and the Fire Department, will provide regular and high-test gasoline, but no diesel fuel. The new store is an addition to Cumberland’s existing store and station in the center of town.
Selectmen declined to act on the Wal-Mart request because they felt there were too many ifs involved. The propane, which would be used for heating and cooling the store being built on the site, is intended as a stopgap measure until the company gets approval from natural gas providers to bring their product in from Route 9, according to Wal-Mart engineers.
Selectmen wanted to know if the temporary tanks could be built above ground so they could be easily removed if and when the natural gas comes through, but Deputy Fire Chief Thomas Wood said his department would never approve storing 6,000 gallons of propane above ground because of safety issues.
“Two thousand gallons, maybe, but not 6,000 gallons,” he told selectmen, who said they were also concerned about propane leaking into the recently constructed sewer lines along Route 9, being carried along the sewer route and possibly causing an explosion at some other site.
The board asked the Wal-Mart engineers to find answers to the questions raised last night, then continued the public hearing on the proposal until its next meeting July 17.