Officials in Palmyra are negotiating with Corinna over a fire and emergency services contract after ditching a decades-old deal with Newport.
Maine’s small towns commonly share fire and emergency coverage through contracts with neighboring communities. For more than 20 years, that meant Newport’s Fire Department covered calls in Palmyra. Late last year, Newport more than doubled its asking price, something Newport Fire Chief Jeff Chretien said had not ever been raised.
“The Select Board just let it go for 20 years without addressing it and it was time to readdress it,” he said.
The strife over fire protection costs in the Newport area comes as small towns across the state are reeling from years of high costs, causing discontent and difficult budget talks in both local service hubs that have been hit hardest by cost increases and the communities around them.
Newport is in the first category. Homeowners there pay more than 3% of income in taxes, double the amount of Palmyra residents, according to data provided to the Legislature. Part of this is because Newport was subsidizing the smaller town’s fire service, Chretien argued.
When the contract was initially finalized, Newport’s charge was set at 20% of the fire department’s operating costs. Last year as the town reassessed, it found that Palmyra still accounted for about 20% of the department’s calls. So they asked for 20% of the department’s operating budget.
After decades of inflation, that meant a jump from about $39,000 to $88,000 per year. Chretien said that to give Palmyra time to adjust to the increased cost, that price would increase gradually over three years. Chretien called the offer “very, very fair.”
But it didn’t land well in Palmyra, which allowed the contract to expire at the end of December. The town was not going to have any money available to absorb the increase unless voters allowed them to at the town meeting next week.
Palmyra is now negotiating with Corinna, which is covering the town while negotiations continue. Michael Cray, the Palmyra select board’s vice chair, has asked Corinna to accept a price of $40,000 based on the 54 calls covered by Newport last year. He said the deal is likely to be approved, which may make the upcoming town meeting easier.
“For the fire protection part of it, there won’t be a substantial increase in taxes,” he said.
Daniel O’Connor is a Report for America corps member who covers rural government as part of the partnership between the Bangor Daily News and The Maine Monitor, with additional support from BDN and Monitor readers.
