Northfield Finance Committee approves $10,000 emergency transfer to repair ailing ambulance

NORTHFIELD -- January 27, 2025, Northfield Finance Committee approves emergency ambulance repair transfer and confronts fourfold EMS assessment increase. The committee voted 5-0 on January 27 to transfer $10,000 from the town's $47,000 reserve fund to the Ambulance Vehicle Maintenance account to cover brakes, oil pans, valve cover gaskets, and steering linkage repairs on the department's 2017 ambulance, A2, which EMS Director Matt Wolkenbright said was needed immediately to keep two advanced life support trucks on the road. Wolkenbright, who joined as director in September 2024, presented a proposed FY2026 four-town assessment of $283,847, with Northfield's share at $102,778, up from a flat $25,000 in FY2025, driven by a shift to six full-time benefited staff, the addition of retirement and health insurance to the enterprise fund budget, and a shared $500,000 capital request for a new ambulance with at least a 20-month delivery lead time. Fire Chief Skipton L reported a used rescue truck purchased from Messina, New York, came in at $160,000 against a $225,000 appropriation. Police Chief John Hall presented a less-than-1-percent budget increase of $2,333 after officers agreed to drop an educational incentive program in exchange for a salary reclassification, with Hall noting, "we could just pay our officers what they're worth."