MEXICO — Med-Care Ambulance Board of Directors were expected to approve a proposed $1.75 million budget for 2011 on Wednesday night.

That amount is $285,000 more than last year’s budget of $1,465,000, and largely due to an increased call volume, Dean Milligan, director of operations said late Wednesday afternoon.

At the meeting in the Peru town office, the board could also decide which funding mechanism to go with for the board-approved new ambulance station that’s tentatively estimated at $1.7 million.

Milligan said he believes the 2011 budget will have “a very minimal impact” on the 11 towns that pay subsidies to operate the service.

“For some people, they are overwhelmed by the new building cost, but one-year’s operating budget is equal to what we’re trying to do for our long-term capital,” he said.

Wages account for a large chunk of the 2011 budget, although Milligan said a call volume of 600 more calls than last year at this time has driven up revenues and expenses, forcing Med-Care to increase staffing.

“Going from the $1.4 (million) to the $1.7 (million), is still proportionate to the revenue without a major impact on subsidy,” he said. “The revenue from the increased calls is offsetting the increased expenses.”

Milligan said the current budget proposal does have a line item that will support the new facility if that’s the direction that the board chooses.

Med-Care now qualifies for Maine Bond Bank funding for the proposed 13,800-square-foot ambulance station that’s expected to be sited along Route 2 in Mexico near the Oxford Federal Credit Union, pending completion of negotiations for the land.

“So that’s another option we are now looking at to secure funding for the facility,” Milligan said.

He said the board has finalized the new station’s site plan and layout blueprints. Currently, they’ve applied for a permit from the Maine Department of Transportation.

“We want to make sure that before we do anything with any land that we have DOT approval to have an entrance off of Route 2,” he said.

After Wednesday night’s board meeting and if directors OK the budget and support moving forward with the new facility, Milligan said Med-Care’s next step is to convene a Building Committee meeting to determine public hearing dates, times and locations.

The Mexico-based ambulance service is owned by Andover, Byron, Canton, Carthage, Dixfield, Hanover, Mexico, Newry, Peru, Roxbury and Rumford. Its governing body is a Board of Directors with representatives from all 11 River Valley towns.

Med-Care has 15 full-time employees and 39 part-time employees.

The new facility would be a stick-built, one-story ranch-style station with an attached metal building with four ambulance bays.

Milligan said the administrative and living area would be about 5,800 square feet, the truck bay about 6,800 square feet, and a utility or mezzanine area over a couple of rooms would be about 1,200 square feet.

He said Med-Care won’t know the building’s true estimate based on square footage until bids are received.

“Historically, the way (the architect) specs out the bids, they usually come in below what his square footage costs estimate is,” Milligan said.

“I would suspect the cost would be less, but we’re saying around $1.7 million for the package.”

tkarkos@sunjournal.com