WATERVILLE — In early budget debate, city councilors are favoring hiring eight firefighter-emergency medical services workers so the fire department can put its third ambulance on the road.

The council spent nearly three hours Tuesday debating a proposed municipal and school budget for 2025-26 with most of the discussion focused on whether to fund the fire department request, while at the same time, making cuts to the proposal and funding a cost of living increase for nonunion city employees.

The first of two budget approval votes has been scheduled for May 20.

Council Chair Rebecca Green, D-Ward 4, called it a challenging budget year, what with the uncertainty that comes with cuts to federal programs and weighing the cost of running a third ambulance with the need to consider what taxpayers can afford.

“I think what we need to do is to think about what we can ask the taxpayers to pay and what different types of budgets we can come up with,” she said.

County taxes increased about 10% and the city has contractual obligations, both of which are fixed costs, she said. The city also lost a grant for its paramedicine program and Northern Light Inland Hospital is closing, causing huge concerns about safety, Green said. The 3.4% increase in the proposed budget doesn’t take into account the increase needed to launch a third ambulance, she said.

“This is one of the hardest decisions that we have,” she said.

Councilor Brandon Gilley, D-Ward 1, said councilors have an obligation to taxpayers to ensure their taxes are carefully considered. Councilor Thomas Klepach, D-Ward 3, said they would be lying if they told residents their taxes will never go up, and this seems to be an instance where taxes need to go up. The proposed budget, he said, is very lean, and residents need adequate emergency services.

Mayor Mike Morris said councilors have until the end of June to iron everything out.

The city has four ambulances, two of which are on the road and a third is ready to roll, Waterville fire Chief Jason Frost said. The fourth ambulance is in the department’s basement and can be used if another one has to go off the road, he said.

Frost, who has advocated for expanding the city’s rescue staff, reiterated the need for a third ambulance, saying the department already is pushing the limits of what it can handle every day.

“I would be very fearful if we don’t do something now,” he said.

Last year, his department’s ambulances took patients to MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta 100 times and he expects they will go there at least 800 times, he said, with the June closure of the Northern Light Inland hospital and its emergency department.

Beyond the extra call volume, he said he is concerned about burnout rate among firefighters, paramedics and EMTs. With inadequate numbers of workers, they often do not get to sleep, and humans aren’t meant to be up 24 hours, he said.

“In the last month, we’ve run to Portland twice and we’ve never seen that since I’ve been here,” he said.

The proposed municipal budget, not including the third ambulance proposal and hiring more workers for that, is $24.1 million and represents a 3.4% increase over the current budget. The city’s tax rate is $20 per $1,000 of assessed property valuation and, if the budget proposal passes as is, the tax rate would increase to $20.64. Most of the increase would be from union and employee contracts, said Christina Therrien, the city’s finance director.

But if the council decides to approve a budget that includes hiring firefighter-emergency medical workers to operate a third ambulance, with two workers on the ambulance per four shifts, the tax rate could increase, depending on whether the council includes cuts and makes other changes, such as possibly increasing code enforcement fees. The increase also depends on whether firefighters are hired at the top of the pay scale and how many the city is able to hire.

Scott Beale, who also is a member of the Planning Board, said that as an elderly resident, he appreciates the city’s emergency services but at the same time, having a third ambulance will be costly and a lot of people can’t afford it.

“It just seems like we’re on a potentially unsustainable path and I don’t know what do to about it and its a tough question,” he said.

At the end of the discussion, Morris asked councilors to give him a sense as to whether they want to launch a third ambulance.

“I think so,” said Councilor Cathy Herard, D-Ward 7. “I think that every option we look at needs to include the third ambulance.”

Councilor Spencer Krigbaum, D-Ward 5, agreed, saying he supports a proposal that includes the ambulance, as well as budget cuts.

The proposed school budget for 2025-26 is $34.2 million, a 5.97% increase, or $1.9 million, over the current $32.2 million budget.

But the schools get revenues from tuition and state subsidy in the amount of $22.98 million, so school officials are not asking for $1.9 million in taxes, according to school Finance Director Paula Pooler. They are asking the city for another $144,782, a 1.31% increase over what was raised in property taxes in the current school budget.

Pooler said before Tuesday’s meeting that 85% to 87% of the school budget is reflected in salaries and benefits. Health insurance costs also increased.

She said the budget numbers could change, as school officials are still in contract negotiations. The Waterville Board of Education could take a first of two votes needed to approve a proposed budget on Monday, according to Pooler.

At the council meeting, Therrien, the city’s finance director, said the schools did an excellent job of producing a proposed budget with a 1.31% increase.