The town of Canton is facing a budget deficit because of the lack of volunteer emergency medical technicians and town officials are looking for solutions to the shortage.
The ambulance service relies on volunteers, as well as a private firm for coverage, but Chief Administrative Officer Robert Skinner said the town is relying more on the paid firm because there are not enough volunteers to fill the shifts.
As a result, there is a deficit of more than $70,000 in the fire and emergency medical services department.
They have covered the cost with money from elsewhere in the budget, but they are now looking for a permanent solution.
Skinner said volunteers are more difficult to find because Canton requires advanced EMT certification, which is beneficial to residents because first responders can do more when they arrive at the scene.
“It’s the actual training, and the amount of training and the time it takes to get the advanced level certification has been what’s resulted in difficulty in getting the volunteers,” Skinner said.
The town is also considering hiring paid paramedics instead of the volunteer EMTs, but that would be an additional expense estimated at roughly $300,000. Currently, if a paramedic is needed in Canton, they are called from UConn or Farmington.
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With that idea still up in the air, there is no word yet where the money for the paramedics would come from or if taxes in Canton would go up as a result.
In the meantime, town officials said the shortage is not affecting response times to medical emergencies.
More volunteer EMTs are currently in training, but the town y is looking for as many as possible to help fix the shortage.
