Proponents of keeping Wiscasset Ambulance Service got three boosts on May 5. A contractor’s bid options ranged from $178,000 to $403,000 a year; Edgecomb Fire Chief Roy Potter and other speakers publicly praised Wiscasset’s town-operated service; and, after hearing the bid options, Selectmen’s Vice Chairman Ben Rines Jr. recommended voters reject privatization in a straw vote on June 9.

Now that the town has its answer on what privatization would cost, Rines said: “We can throw it in the garbage.”

The developments occurred at Tuesday night’s selectmen’s meeting, which drew a crowd on the ambulance service and other topics. After ambulance contractors’ submissions were aired, none of the selectmen voiced an interest in exploring the idea further.

After the meeting, Selectmen’s Chairman Pam Dunning said residents should still take the opportunity to express their opinions in next month’s non-binding vote at the polls. In the interview and during the board meeting, Dunning emphasized that the board only looked into privatization because it’s an idea selectmen hear every year, accompanied by predictions that a contractor would charge the town little to nothing.

John Blagdon, who helped start the town’s ambulance service decades ago, said the service is a great deal; and its members are dedicated. “They deserve more than to even have it talked about doing away with,” he told selectmen.

The board was not insulting the ambulance service or trying to get rid of it, Dunning responded. People complain every year about the cost, she said. “By due diligence, how was I not required to ask how much (a contractor would charge)?”

Edgecomb used to use both Wiscasset Ambulance Service and a contractor, but now uses Wiscasset’s service for the whole town, Potter said.

“The residents of Edgecomb are very happy with it,” Potter told selectmen. Wiscasset Ambulance Service members also helped Edgecomb bring back its First Responders program, Potter said.

Town Manager Marian Anderson later praised Wiscasset Ambulance Service Director Roland Abbott and his staff for their help with information on a topic that, depending on the outcome, could have impacted them.

“This was very difficult for Roland and his team, but they were very professional about providing the information,” Anderson said.

Of two responses to the town’s request for proposals from contractors, the one from North East Mobile Health Services of Scarborough was the only one that offered specifics on costs. The other responding contractor, Central Lincoln County Ambulance Service of Damariscotta, asked for a delay in the start of service to allow time for a meeting on the logistics of the project. “We then would be better able to give you a cost savings on your current budget,” the letter states.

The Wiscasset department’s proposed next budget totals $286,288; revenue that the department brings in offsets $232,000 of that, according to the warrant for the June 9 budget vote.

North East Mobile Health Services offered four options ranging in cost from $178,000 to $403,000; under the $403,000 and $238,000 options, the contractor would use the town’s ambulance station for an unspecified amount of rent and buy the better of Wiscasset’s two ambulances for a “mutually agreed upon price.”

North East’s $343,000 and $178,000 options would have the contractor using the ambulance station rent-free and buying the better ambulance for one dollar. Some audience members laughed when those points were announced.

In addition to recommending voters reject privatization in the straw vote, Rines recommended they support the Wiscasset Ambulance Service’s proposed budget.