Camden, Hope, Lincolnville tell Maine EMS that a Rockport ambulance license will increase their costs up to 78 percent
After Rockport submitted an application last month to the Maine Emergency Medical Services System (Maine EMS) for a license to run its own ground ambulance service, neighboring towns of Camden, Hope and Lincolnville have weighed in with individual letters to the state, saying an approved license will take a fiscal toll on their own citizens.
Lincolnville Town Administrator David Kinney sent his letter Nov. 14, Hope's Town Administrator Samantha Mank followed with her letter Nov. 15, and Camden Town Manager Audra Caler sent the Maine Board of Emergency Medical Services a letter Nov. 15.
All follow a Nov. 6 Maine EMS Board vote not to grant a waiver to the Town of Rockport for the requirement to produce a new report to accompany its ambulance license submission.
That report is to address whether switching a ground ambulance service is in the best interests of the region; that such a change will maintain or improve patient care; maintain and/or improve patient care quality, and/or improve system efficiencies and use of resources.
All three letters reference the right of Rockport for self-determination, but they all cite a negative draw on their town finances. (See below for all three letters, attached as PDFs)
For more than a decade, the three towns, with Rockport, have been contracting individually with the privately-owned North East Mobile Health Services ambulance service. That service is located on Route 1 in Rockport and sends out responding EMS crews and ambulances when dispatched by Knox Regional Communications Center (KRCC) in Rockland, the 911 call center for Knox County.
The four towns share the financial cost of the North East service, according to their own population.
Should Rockport pull out from its contract with North East, Hope said its cost of remaining with North East Mobile Health Services would translate to a 56 percent increase, or $92,400, over what it pays now.
"For a community of 1,698 that equates to an annual increase of more than $54 per person," said Mank. "For any municipal service, a 56 percent increase in cost without a corresponding increase in the level of service for a user borders on unconscionable."
Lincolnville Town Administrator David Kinney likewise cited a cost increase of $125,000.
"For a community of 2,312, that equates to an annual increase of more than $54 per person, or 78 percent.
He, too, said the increase in cost without an increase in level of service, "borders on unconscionable."
"We cannot make our decisions in a vaccuum, whether it is ambulance, sewer, law enforcement, assessing, code enforcement or any municipal service, because everything has a ripple effect," said Kinney, in a Nov. 19 conversation. "It applies to everything we do."
Camden Town Manager Audra Caler said Rockport's exit from the existing four-town service, "will have a significant financial impact on the Town of Camden, the largest community per capita amongst the four towns."
She said Camden's subsidy to North East accounts for 41 percent of the total cost, and increase to 57 percent.
"In dollars, this is an annual increase from $363,677 in 2025 to $648,598 in 2026," Caler wrote.
She continued: "As in any small town, an increase of this magnitude will be exceedingly contentious to the point where it may be the most fiscally responsible decision for Camden to pursue starting our own transporting ambulance service. This would be incredibly negatively consequential for the provision of EMS in our region and to our neighboring towns. Therefore, starting our own transporting ambulance service is not the Town of Camden's preferred outcome, and is counter to Camden's desire to more intensely strengthen EMS and fire service collaboration within our region."
Caler referenced a 2021 developed Community Self Determination EMS Evaluation that included the four towns, plus Pen Bay Medical Center.
That evaluation (see attached PDF letter from the Town of Camden for the full study) recommended a fire-based first response unit be formed in the four towns with one town serving as the Maine EMS licensee and administrator, the same or another town providing the EMS chief, "but all four towns benefitting and soliciting members. The four towns would contribute to an insurance fund, and licensing and administrative costs, but pay for their own first responders.
The Maine EMS Board will meet again in December.
Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657