Schoodic EMS, which provides 24/7 medical emergency response to the towns of Gouldsboro and Winter Harbor, will continue to compensate its squad’s members on a pay-per-call basis for the 2021-22 fiscal year. The decision came after selectmen concluded that going to an hourly wage would cost far more.
At their special meeting March 23, selectmen weighed compensating emergency medical technicians (EMTs) at an hourly rate at an annual cost of $74,544 versus spending $57,867.79 per year when paying them on a per-call basis. The town manager’s hourly-wage estimate did not include EMTs and paramedics’ time spent fulfilling required training for license renewals.
“If you go to hourly, you’ll have to add the training hours,” Gouldsboro resident Bob Harmon noted at the meeting.
At present, Schoodic EMS’s only full-time employees are Gouldsboro/Winter Harbor Fire Chief Tate McLean and the squad’s office manager, Ken McCartney.