AUBURN — The question of who answers the county’s emergency calls is back.

The Androscoggin County Budget Committee defeated a proposal Wednesday to spend about $380,000 to upgrade the county’s dispatch center. The committee’s action effectively reopened the controversial debate.

“Unfortunately, Androscoggin County, I don’t think, will ever agree when it comes to dispatching,” said Capt. Ray Lafrance, who oversees the patrol division and dispatching for the Sheriff’s department. “The county commissioners have seen it. We’ve seen it. I’ve been told certain towns will never go with Lewiston-Auburn.”

Members of the Budget Committee requested revenue forecasts, five-year breakdowns and a full listing of the options weighed by the three-member County Commission.

“Let’s look at the different plans,” said Michael Bowie, committee chairman and a town councilor in Lisbon. “I think it’s important for the committee to see.”

Committee member Phillippe Moreau of Greene asked the County Commission to show what effect the updated center might have on the budget for the next few years. He was upset that projected costs had changed in the past two weeks.

“I’m not comfortable with the numbers,” Moreau said.

Only two of the Budget Committee’s 10 members present, Rep. Jeffrey Timberlake, R-Turner, and Emily Tuttle of Minot, voted in favor. The others — Michael Gendron, Renee Bernier, Michael Marcotte and Helen Poulin of Lewiston, Mark Samson of Auburn, Nancy Richard of Mechanic Falls, Bowie and Moreau — all voted against.

After the meeting, Commission Chairman Randall Greenwood said he did not know what would happen next.

“I’m certainly disappointed in the vote,” he said. “I’m certainly disappointed that public safety wasn’t even considered. I don’t know where we go from here.”

In May, the commission voted 2-1 to put aside proposals that would have moved dispatching to either the town of Lisbon or to Lewiston-Auburn 911. They voted unanimously to reinvest in the county’s emergency calling system.

Their reason, Greenwood said Wednesday, was only partly about money. Savings from the Lisbon plan would have been offset by computer costs, he said. He also worried that the emergency system would dangerously fracture if towns were left with a system in which 911 calls were answered somewhere outside the region and then transferred to a dispatcher in Lisbon.

Proposals to send dispatching to Lewiston-Auburn 911 failed under criticism from the small towns that its services were too expensive and unneeded.

The commissioners might give the whole topic a rest, Greenwood said. They could drop the issue and hope that the current but aging system survives, rather than face the Budget Committee again.

“Remember, this only comes back if we bring it back,” Greenwood said.

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