Alna will consider a flat town budget, but a fire department request to increase officer stipends appears likely to spark debate at annual town meeting.
Residents will elect town officers Friday, March 15 at the fire station at 1647 Alna Rd., where the polls will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Saturday, March 16, they will gather at the fire station at 10 a.m. to vote on the town budget and other matters of town government.
The budget totals $610,026, a decrease of $3976 or 0.65 percent from last year’s $614,002 budget.
First Selectman David Abbott said he does not expect the property tax rate, currently $21.80, to go up, although the county tax, education budget and state revenue sources, like municipal revenue sharing, all remain unknown.
All expenses and revenues the town directly controls are steady, he said.
Abbott predicted the fire department request would be the only warrant article to generate controversy.
The stipends would all double if residents approve the request. The fire chief stipend would increase from $1500-$3000, the assistant chief and emergency medical services director stipends from $1000-$2000 and the three captains’ stipends from $250-$500.
The increases would cost the town $4250 per year.
The Alna Board of Selectmen unanimously opposes the increases.
“I would have actually gone along with a 20-25 percent increase, but to double salaries is kind of a bad precedent,” Abbott said.
“Quite frankly, I’m going to recommend flat-funding everything,” Second Selectman Jonathan Villeneuve said.
The fire department officers earn less than minimum wage, Villeneuve said, but so do almost all town officers.
“Everybody is underpaid in town government,” Abbott said.
Alna Fire Chief Mike Trask disagrees with the board’s conclusions.
The leadership of the fire department researched officer stipends in nearby towns and towns of similar size around the state to determine a fair, reasonable request, Trask said.
The chief and assistant chief have not had a raise in 13 years, said Trask, who has been the town’s fire chief for 19 years.
“I think the job of fire chief is worth $4000,” he said, but the fire department officers “came up with $3000 and thought that was fair and would be easier for the town to handle.”
“They care about their taxes as well as the next guy,” Trask said.
The raises would also help the department retain quality personnel, Trask said. The fire department officers “are willing to do an awful lot, but they have to be compensated for some of it,” he said.
Small-town, volunteer fire chiefs have the same responsibilities as city fire chiefs as far as compliance with regulations and training, without full-time pay, benefits or a full-time staff, Trask said.
He also responded to the comments of the selectmen regarding the low pay of town officers. “I’m sure that the fire department officers put in a lot more time than the selectmen do at their job,” he said.
Alna pays its first selectman $6285; its second and third selectmen $2105 apiece.
He said the selectmen did not voice any concerns when he presented the department budget at their Feb. 21 meeting, but said they opposed the budget at a March 7 meeting when he was not present. “I don’t think that’s really the way to deal with issues,” he said.
Elsewhere on the warrant, if voters pass the article, the town would raise $182,895 for the snow removal contract and for sand and salt, a decrease of $10,000 or 5.18 percent. The town has a balance in the sand and salt account sufficient to allow the decrease in the amount from new tax revenue.
The snow removal contract expires after this winter. The selectmen said they plan to extend the contract with Hanley Construction Inc. if the company agrees to the same amount, $162,895. Otherwise, they would solicit bids for the contract.
Another article would raise $16,000 for highway maintenance, a decrease of $9000 or 36 percent. The town plans to spend about the same amount, but it will carry forward $9000 from the account balance.
The town plans to use another $25,000 leftover in the highway maintenance account to establish a reserve account for future road projects.
Requests from nonprofits are up $812.
The biggest impact would be a new, $4254 request from the Wiscasset Parks and Recreation Department, which operates the Wiscasset Community Center.
The request amounts to $6 per Alna resident and would make the town a “community partner” with the same rates and benefits as Wiscasset residents.
A family membership costs $123 less in a partner town than the rate for residents of all other towns. Thus, if 35 Alna families bought memberships, the program would pay for itself.
The center has 76 members who live in Alna, Wiscasset Parks and Recreation Director Todd Souza said at an October meeting with the Board of Selectmen.
Six agencies that requested a total of $2697 last year did not request funds this year. ElderCare Network of Lincoln County, Lincoln County Healthcare, Lincoln County Historical Association, Kno-Wal-Lin Home Care and Hospice Inc., Mid-Coast Mental Health Center and Mobius Inc. did not request donations.
Two agencies requested less than last year. Sweetser, a behavioral health care organization, requested $622, a decrease of $107. Wiscasset Public Library requested $5074, a decrease of $639.
Just one organization asked for more money. Lincoln County Television asked for $1044, an increase of $1.
If residents approve the article, the town would raise $2000 for general assistance, a decrease of $1000 or 50 percent. Third Selectman David Reingardt said the town continues to receive about the same number of requests for general assistance but has a healthy balance in the account.
The town would raise $7000 for the Committee for Alna History to repair or replace the roof of the 1789 Alna meetinghouse. The committee did not request a deposit into the historic buildings reserve account or operations funds this year, requests that totaled $6200 last year. Thus, the new expense would be $7000, but the savings of $6200 nearly offsets the new expense.
The town would raise $5000 for the revaluation reserve, the same amount as last year.
The selectmen had decided to raise $30,000 because they thought the state would require them to revaluate soon.
Villeneuve, however, said a conversation with a representative of the Maine Revenue Services Property Tax Division leads him to believe the town can delay revaluation while it continues to save for the expensive process.
The selectmen voted 2-1 to go back to the $5000 figure at their March 7 meeting. Reingardt voted against the motion because, he said, he would like to raise more.
Residents will elect a cemetery trustee to a three-year term. Jim Bruce’s term ends this year.
The fire department budget is down $808, the cemetery account up $600 and the town share of employee social security up $500.
The fire department has requested an increase in firefighter call and training pay from $11 to $12 per hour.
The 10-year plan of the nonprofit Alna Volunteer Fire Dept. calls for a gradual increase in the hourly rate from $10 in 2011 to $15 by 2019. The increases will help the town fairly compensate and retain personnel, according to the plan.
Villeneuve said he thinks the most important warrant articles are the loan payments for a 2011 roads project and the 2009 fire station addition because they show how much the town spends on interest.
Alna borrowed $522,000 in 2011 for major repairs to Bailey, Dock, Egypt, Golden Ridge, Lothrop and Rabbit Path roads. The town borrowed $200,000 in 2009 for the fire station addition.
The town will pay $63,600 for the former and $31,875 – $26,250 for principal and $5625 for interest – for the latter.
Alna will pay off the roads loan in 2022 and the fire station loan in 2020.
The selectmen said they will not support any more major loans until the town pays off at least one of the existing loans. The position could place the board at odds with the fire department again next year, when the department plans to ask the town for a new fire truck.
The town will have about $163,000 saved for a fire truck after town meeting, but Fire Chief Mike Trask would like to purchase a new truck for $250,000-$300,000, which would require a loan.
The selectmen said they would consider an increase to the $25,000 the town raises for the fire truck reserve each year.
