DIXFIELD — The Board of Selectmen voted Monday evening against supporting a letter from Mexico selectmen asking for a list of Med-Care Ambulance employees’ salaries.
Mexico selectmen sent letters to Med-Care member towns to gauge interest in pursuing the information, after some selectmen were concerned about increases in Med-Care’s budget.
Med-Care directors said they were told by their lawyer that they did not have to release the names and salaries of employees.
Selectman Dana Whittemore said the board voted Sept. 14 against supporting the effort but later decided to continue discussion after receiving a breakdown of the budget and a letter by Med-Care explaining why their budget had increased over the previous year.
“After looking at the budget numbers, we should be able to get all the information we need from what was provided,” Whittemore said. “I don’t know why we’d want to spend money for more specifics when we already received a letter explaining why the overall budget is higher.”
Whittemore later pointed out that the payroll section of Med-Care’s budget, which was what the Mexico board was interested in, actually was lower than the previous year.
“What else could they possibly want?” Whittemore asked. “All the information is right here.”
Town Manager Carlo Puiia said the Mexico board wanted the gross earnings of each employee.
“I would . . . rather not get involved in it,” Whittemore said.
Puiia said he received an email from the Maine Municipal Association that cited a case in Maine where the Maine Supreme Judicial Court claimed a Humane Society was not subject to Right to Know requests because it was a nonprofit organization and didn’t meet the requirements for such a request.
“They said that it’s more than likely it would be a similar situation with Med-Care,” Puiia said.
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