A special town meeting will be held on June 8 at 6 p.m. at the Boothbay Harbor Town Office to discuss a missed item in the budget of the Boothbay Region Ambulance Service, which did not make it onto the town warrant approved May 2.

In November of 2014, a bill went out to the three towns for the BRAS's equipment reserve fund, which equaled $47,000 in total; $22,848 of this was billed to Boothbay Harbor while the rest was billed to Boothbay and Southport.

This money is being used to replace ambulances as they get old. With four ambulances in use, every 18 months the oldest one is being replaced, which means every six years the entire fleet is replaced.

The money was approved during the town meeting in May 2014, but due to a communication error between the service and the town, it was billed incorrectly and the money was absorbed into the current 2015-2016 budget.

By the time all this came to light, it was two days before town meeting and the warrants had all been finalized. So Town Manager Tom Woodin suggested that the only way to get the money approved would be to hold a special town meeting.

The Boothbay Harbor selectmen discussed the proposal at their May 11 meeting.

“I've thought a lot about this and I am not in favor of this motion,” Selectman Wendy Wolf said. “The business management at BRAS is poor and frankly I am concerned about precedent.”

“I agree the business management is poor, but the money was already approved, it simply wasn't billed correctly,” vice chairman Bill Hamblen said.

“During town meeting Mary Lee Brown asked about the lack of funding for the community band,” Wolf said. “We replied that the band did not request funding. What's to stop them for asking for a special town meeting? This needs to be a part of the budget process.”

Budget committee member Mary Neal urged the selectmen to vote against the special town meeting.

“We have bent over backwards to give the ambulance service everything they've asked for,” Neal said. “We tell people they need to follow rules, but this sets a precedent for those who are not compliant and who have poor business practices, they can just come anytime.”

Resident Helen Farnham spoke in favor of the meeting, and stated it was not fair to “down” the service because of their issues. Neal replied that she was not “downing” them, she simply felt they should follow the same rules as everyone else.

After more discussion, the selectmen voted 4-1 in favor of the meeting, with Wolf opposed. The selectmen also approved adding an article to the special meeting regarding the gift from a local of a new harbor master's boat, which means the money set aside in the budget for that replacement can be reappropriated.

In response to their decision, Neal announced her resignation from the budget committee effective immediately.

“It's been my honor to be on the budget committee,” she said.

Board Chairman Denise Griffin thanked Neal for her years of service.

Related:

Voters pass municipal budget down one percent from last year