BUCKFIELD — Town Manager Cindy Dunn informed selectmen Tuesday that the rescue chief’s proposal to get more day coverage on Sundays has been dropped because it would exceed budgeted wages.

Dunn said Rescue Chief Floyd “Chip” Richardson will continue to work on the problem. She didn’t have specific numbers, but said after the meeting that she and the chief crunched them that morning and they were too high.

The plan Richardson crafted was to make the Sunday shift attractive, Dunn said. He wanted to change the current 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday shift to 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Sunday. The plan would have reduced one hour from each day shift and would be covered by on-call personnel at the $2 an hour rate.

“It’s been taken off the agenda only due to the fact that the budget won’t withstand it,” Dunn said. “We’ve said it numerous times, people can come here and put their call time in at $2 an hour or they can go to their other service and get paid. If that’s your livelihood, you’re going there, it’s only natural.”

She said another reason the shift is unattractive to some people is because of the day of the week.

“Of course, that’s family day too, generally speaking,” Dunn said.

“If there were enough people to get one Sunday a month it would not be so difficult but there’s a lot of training involved just to be a volunteer one day a month,” Board of Selectmen Chairwoman Cheryl Coffman said.

Dunn confirmed volunteer rescue personnel have to be certified. 

Even with the budget not being able to absorb Richardson’s proposal, he hasn’t given up.

“The chief is working on it,” Dunn said. “I am confident he will come up with something to make it work.”

In other news, Dunn announced the Board of Assessors set the tax rate at $20.80 per $1,000 of assessed value last week. Last year’s rate was $20.55.

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