copyright the Chronicle November 29, 2017
by Elizabeth Trail
DERBY — The select board here won’t be sending any more money to Derby Line Ambulance until it gets answers about a $151,110 tax lien the IRS slapped on the ambulance service at the end of September.
The board was hoping to talk to representatives of the ambulance service at its November 20 meeting. When no one from the squad showed up, the board voted unanimously to cut off funding.
“They didn’t tell us they weren’t coming,” Selectman Brian Smith said by phone Monday.
The ambulance crew had originally planned to attend an earlier select board meeting but rescheduled, saying they couldn’t make that date.
“The select board voted to lay it out to the ambulance board that they won’t be cutting any more checks,” Town Administrator Bob Kelley said Monday.
He said the town has been issuing a monthly check for about $9,000 to support the ambulance service. That’s the $104,000 apportionment voted at last year’s Town Meeting divided into monthly payments.
Mr. Kelly said he had hoped the possibility of losing the funding would bring ambulance officials to the table.
“It’s the carrot we have,” he said, going on to explain that Derby Line Ambulance is an independent nonprofit, not a part of town government.
That means the town has very limited ability to look into Derby Line Ambulance’s finances. And this isn’t the first time the ambulance service has had problems.
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