After a change in the funding formula, Greenville could bear the brunt of rising costs for Souhegan Valley Ambulance in the coming year.
Ambulance Chief Wendy Leger met with members of the New Ipswich Select Board Tuesday, and was scheduled to meet with the Greenville Select Board Wednesday to discuss the formula change and the upcoming year’s budget, which is expected to increase from $163,000 to $190,000.
Leger said the majority of the increase is from increased operational costs, including fuel and medical supplies.
“Fuel costs and medical supply costs are skyrocketing. My fuel has doubled; my supplies have doubled. It’s expensive for an ambulance. I tried everything I could to keep this thing as low as I could,” Leger said.
The Souhegan Valley Ambulance is a private ambulance service which provides contracted services to both New Ipswich and Greenville. Currently, and in past years, the cost split between the two towns has been based on population, with the more-populous New Ipswich carrying 70 percent and Greenville 30 percent. In 2022, this resulted in a cost of $48,900 for Greenville and a $114,100 cost for New Ipswich.
Last year, New Ipswich requested the ambulance review that formula. Leger said that review was done, and an examination of call volume and median area income was taken into account. As a result, the ambulance is proposing a 60-40 split between the two towns, still with New Ipswich carrying the heavier load.
With the new split, the anticipated cost for New Ipswich in the coming year is expected to be $114,000 – essentially the same as this year – while Greenville’s costs would increase from $48,900 to $76,000. Had the cost split remained at 70-30, New Ipswich would have paid $133,000 – a nearly $19,000 increase – and Greenville $57,000, an $8,100 increase.
In 2021, the Souhegan Valley Ambulance Service responded to a total of 290 calls in Greenville and 298 calls in New Ipswich, despite the fact that New Ipswich has more than twice the population of Greenville. Leger said in reviewing the call volume for the past six years, Greenville has received an average of 45 percent of ambulance responses.
“With twice as many citizens, you would think [New Ipswich would] have twice as many calls, and that’s really not the case,” Leger said.
Leger said though the average call volume for Greenville was typically higher than 40 percent, she felt a 60-40 split was more equitable when also taking into consideration the median income of both towns.
“I think the fairest change is 40-60. I can’t justify 50-50 with the household median,” Leger said.
Leger said while the new formula meant an increase in costs for Greenville, it was not out of step with surrounding communities with a similar call volume. A breakdown of individual towns’ ambulance costs showed surrounding communities, all of which have a lower call volume than Greenville, paid similar or higher costs for their ambulance services, Leger said.
Mason, which uses Brookline Ambulance, had 113 calls in 2021 and paid $75,083 for ambulance services. Greenfield and Lyndeborough, which are members of the Wilton Ambulance service, paid $97,135 and $123,561 for services, respectively.
The lowest cost in the area for ambulance services was in Sharon, which uses the Peterborough Ambulance Service. With only 36 calls responded to in 2021, the Sharon cost for the service was $18,992. The next closest, Temple, which also uses Peterborough Ambulance, paid $63,372 for a total of 96 calls in 2021.
“I really appreciate the consideration in looking at those numbers,” said New Ipswich Select Board Chair Shawn Talbot.
In a separate issue, the Select Board did not review bids for a planned renovation of the town’s police department. At the request of at least one potential contractor, the board agreed to extend the bidding process through Oct. 17 at 5 p.m. During this time, the board will accept new or updated bids. Bids are expected to be opened on Oct. 18.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.
