The towns are jointly exploring radio communication system upgrades to remedy issues that officials said have become critical to public safety.
The towns of Scarborough and Old Orchard Beach are jointly exploring radio communication system upgrades to remedy issues that officials said have become critical to public safety across both towns, including in school buildings and on school buses.
The total price tag could be as high as nearly $15 million for both upgrades. A new system for Scarborough alone is projected to cost more than $11 million. The bill for Old Orchard could be $3.5 million.
At a joint workshop Wednesday evening in Scarborough town hall, councilors, first responders and communication staff from the two towns said the existing patchwork of systems is antiquated, regularly unreliable and overburdened, frequently leaving first responders unable to communicate with each other, even when in relatively close proximity.
Much of the infrastructure was installed as far back as the 1950s, is far beyond its expected life span, is very difficult to repair and cannot be expanded or integrated with systems in surrounding towns, they said.
A study undertaken in 2024 concluded, “This presents a significant risk to system performance, increasing the potential for communication outages that could impact public safety operations.”
Scarborough provides emergency dispatch services for both towns, and the communities are working on a shared vision to modernize and integrate their communications systems.
Wednesday night’s workshop was the first full briefing to the town councils, and some expressed sticker shock. Scarborough Town Councilor Jon Anderson said, "Dependable communications is essential. My biggest concern is not whether this is a good thing or whether we should do it now; it’s really how we can afford it with everything else we’re already planning to spend on.
“We just passed a school bond referendum, so we have big money already hitting our taxpayers.”
Scarborough Fire Chief Rich Kindelan said he and public safety staff from both towns have been researching funding support.
“We’ve already had meetings with congressional and senate folks to try and find funding through projects like that. We plan to exhaust every available penny that we can to try and take the burden off of both sides of the community.”
A large part of the expense is the need to build multiple taller towers. Assistant Town Manager Liam Gallagher noted at the workshop, “Towers are not popular, so that will be one of the challenges.”
Gallagher added in an email to Mainebiz after the workshop, “While some are surprised at the current state of our radio systems and the cost associated with a solution, we began this process nearly two years ago through budget discussions to fund a radio study that helped inform a FY27 capital budget placeholder in the current FY26 budget.
“So, while I understand the amount of new information provided through the workshop [was extensive], it is a concern that should not be completely new.”
Next steps would be approvals of an implementation plan by both towns, integration into the FY2027 budgets, and voter approval in November. The earliest new systems could be fully operational in October 2028.
The Scarborough town website has a page detailing more information.
