The Ledge Light Health District will remain intact, at least for the fiscal year that begins July 1. But how long it will continue to provide public health services to the five towns that are its members is still in question.

During budget deliberations this winter, East Lyme and Ledyard - two of Ledge Light's five member towns - considered opting out of Ledge Light and switching to a proposed new district that proponents believed could provide services at about half the cost. Ledge Light also provides public health services for New London, Groton and Waterford. None of those communities considered leaving.

The new district, which would have included Franklin, North Stonington, Stonington and Preston, needed additional towns with larger populations to be viable, so East Lyme and Ledyard were asked. Franklin First Selectman Richard Matters, who was leading the effort to start the new district, said this is still an active proposal, although having one up and running by July 1 is not possible.

"We were probably a little premature," he said, in making a pitch for towns to join in time for the start of fiscal 2011. He will continue to pursue the plan for the future, he said, and may expand the proposal to include Lebanon and Salem.

Both East Lyme and Ledyard have adopted budgets for the coming year that include contributions to stay in Ledge Light. After the two towns questioned the amounts they were paying and considered leaving, Ledge Light officials reduced the fees for member towns by 9 percent from the previous year. For East Lyme, that amounted to a savings of $13,027, and for Ledyard, $10,665.

Baker Salisbury, executive director of Ledge Light, said the reductions were achieved by funding some projects with grants, freezing salaries, and "a couple of dozen tiny cuts." Also, the positions of two sanitarians who recently left for other jobs are being consolidated into one position.

In the end, he said, discussions with the two towns proved productive in helping all members understand the scope of services provided by the 25-member staff of Ledge Light, and for Ledge Light officials to better understand the needs of the towns.

At a cost for fiscal year 2011 of about $6.85 per resident of each of the member towns, Ledge Light's fee is about average for regional health districts around the state, Salisbury said.

But Matters said he continues to believe that the permitting, inspection and other health services could be provided by a new district at a cost of about $4 per resident.

Pamela Kilbey-Fox, branch chief of local health administration for the state Department of Public Health, said she is pleased that East Lyme and Ledyard are remaining in Ledge Light, but that the department is still willing to work with Franklin and the other towns to find the best way to provide health services.

"I still believe they don't have the population to make it work (with just the four towns), and that the best thing for them would be to join either the Uncas Health District (in Norwich) or Ledge Light," she said.

Both East Lyme First Selectman Paul Formica and Ledyard Mayor Fred Allyn Jr. said Friday that while the nine percent reduction from Ledge Light helped, they remain interested the possibility of a new, lower-cost district. The proposal just wasn't far enough along to guarantee that a new district would be set up by July 1, they said.

Formica said he foresees a new district that would be overseen by the chief elected officials in each of the member towns, giving the towns more direct control over district operations than they now have with Ledge Light. He questioned Ledge Light's recent purchase of office space in New London, tapping into a reserve account he said had accumulated $800,000.

Salisbury has said the purchase was a cost-effective and necessary move, getting the district out of cramped, out-of-the-way offices with little parking to a central location with ample space and parking. The district's former offices, on North Road in Groton, are now offered for sale or lease, Salisbury said.

Allyn said the Ledyard Town Council "didn't shut the door on other options."

"There was just a lack of confidence that this new district could be up and running for services by July 1," he said. "It's just too bad it had to get confrontational (with Ledge Light). If it could have been done for 9 percent less, why didn't they do that before?"

A new district, he said, would provide fewer services, but they would be just those services residents want and need, and no extras.

"We have to continue to look for efficiencies," Allyn said. "The budget is not going to get any easier."

j.benson@theday.com