One of Wiscasset’s two ambulances was taken out of service recently after a significant oil leak was discovered in the engine. Selectmen voted 4-1 to spend up to $5,000 on repairs.

EMS Director Toby Martin told selectmen Saturday morning the department’s 2003 ambulance was losing up to a half a quart of oil every three or four days. The Ford 7.5-liter diesel is the older of the two ambulances.

Martin is recommending the townspeople consider replacing it. He’s requesting selectmen include an article in June to appropriate $200,000 from the $10.33 million capital reserve account.

“It has 128,291 miles on it and the life expectancy for the vehicle is seven to 10 years. You’ve gotten a lot of good use out of it,” he said.

After the leak was discovered, Martin took the ambulance to the town mechanic and then Wiscasset Ford. He was told the oil loss might stem from a blown head gasket. He got five repair estimates that ranged from $3,500 to $7,500.

The cost of a new ambulance is estimated at $180,000 to $200,000. Because of its age, Martin said the old ambulance had a trade-in value of $2,000 to $4,000.

After the ambulance was taken out of service, Martin cancelled providing transports; the department is only covering emergency calls. “Because we’re down to one ambulance, I need some direction which way the board wants to go. either having it repaired or moving up consideration of buying a new vehicle,” he said.

The consensus of the board was to take monies from contingency and have the ambulance repaired, which Martin thought would take a week to 10 days.

Selectman Larry Gordon cast the dissenting vote. “Why would you want to put money into repairing a vehicle you know you’ve got to replace and with a trade-in value of only $2,000 to $4,000,” he asked the other board members.

“I don’t think we can go from now until June with just one ambulance,” Chairman Judy Colby said.

Buying an ambulance sooner would require a special town meeting something a majority of the board was unwilling to do.