The selectmen seem to have created quite an uproar when they made the decision to start billing for ambulance services. We use the term “seem” because it’s hard to tell what residents are thinking. There is certainly an uproar within the squad: at least half a dozen members have quit so far. But what do residents think? We’ve only heard from a few who aren’t on the ambulance squad.

The decision itself was straight-forward: selectmen determined that billing for ambulance services would be a way to increase the town’s revenue. They made the decision to bill the insurance company of everyone who receives ambulance services—residents and nonresidents alike—and said that bills to residents who are uninsured would be cancelled. In theory, this should not change the nature of the squad—members can still volunteer, can still maintain a commitment to helping out their neighbors, and to patient care. On the surface, this seems like a reasonable move in a town looking for solutions to a structural deficit, and it makes one wonder why squad members have quit.

At the heart of the controversy, at least from the point of view presented by ambulance squad members, is a belief that the squad was betrayed by selectmen, who allegedly went back on a commitment made by previous selectmen to pursue billing of residents only if the question were put up for a vote at Town Meeting. Current selectmen have said they know of no such prior commitment, and have asserted their right—in fact, their duty—to pursue all avenues to bring in revenue for the town. But, setting aside the question of prior commitments, we have to ask: is there some reason this question couldn’t have been put before voters for discussion at Town Meeting?

Critics say that billing for ambulance services will burden medical volunteers with administrative paperwork and in the end will actually cost the town money. Will it? We don’t know. We haven’t seen the data selectmen used in their decision-making process. Was a cost-benefit analysis done? Did anyone examine what the administrative process would be for squad members for all types of ambulance calls (refusals, lift assists, mutual aid, hospital runs)?

Critics also argue that billing will change the nature of what the squad does and will dampen the spirit of volunteerism among squad members. We suspect that the thing that is most likely to dampen the spirit of volunteerism is not the act of billing but the mistrust that has developed between the squad and the Board of Selectmen.