About 30 Alna voters approved a $25,723.06 transfer of funds to the Fire Department and a much smaller, but still welcome source of income for the town’s Snowmobile Club at a special town meeting May 27, at the Alna Meetinghouse.
The funds for the Fire Department will cover the repair of a broken pump on one of the town’s fire trucks. According to Fire Chief Mike Trask, the bidding process is ongoing, but “the highest price was $18,000.” The remainder of the funds will default to the Fire Truck Reserve account. The money represents the current balance of the School Bus Reserve account; no longer necessary since Alna joined RSU #12.
Moderator Chris Cooper recommended a quick and peaceful course of action. “Don’t ask any questions, don’t have any opinions and we’ll be out of here in 15 minutes,” he said.
Richard Noddin dashed Cooper’s hopes immediately, arguing against the transfer of the funds. “Put the money back into the town budget so we can drop the mil rate,” he said.
John Villeneuve proffered an amendment as “a good compromise,” suggesting the town give the Fire Department enough to fix the pump, but return the remainder to the general fund.
Trask urged voters to reject the amendment. “If you turn down the article, we’re stuck coming to another town meeting. We need the pump fixed now, not two weeks from now, not three weeks from now.”
The amendment failed, with only three voters, including Noddin and Villeneuve, voting in its favor. Without further discussion, residents passed the original by a margin of “28 to vastly fewer than 28,” according to the official count as announced by Cooper.
The final article on the warrant asked voters to “establish a policy to donate state snowmobile registration fee reimbursements to the Alna Snowmobile Club.”
According to Club Vice President Sue Moore, snowmobilers pay about $41 to register their rides. The town sends the money to the state, which absorbs the vast majority but returns about $7 from each registration to the town, about $400 throughout the course of a season.
The Club needs the funds for trail maintenance, Moore said. The Club’s 48 members use three drag sleds to groom trails. “We spend about $600 just for the gas for the drag sleds,” Moore said. Bridge building is another significant expense.
“We usually get around $3000 from the state,” Moore said, in the form of a grant. Last season, though, by Moore’s calculation, Club expenses ran about $7000. Wiscasset and Damariscotta already have similar reimbursement programs in place, she said.
Fred Bowers proposed an amendment to the article. “I’m very much in favor of snowmobile clubs in general and this one in particular,” he said, but he questioned the legality of the arrangement, and asked voters to put the refunds “in a general trail maintenance account.”
Louis Brown called Bowers’ amendment “well-intentioned,” but ultimately unnecessary. “We don’t need to go down that road,” he said.
The amendment failed unanimously, without even Bowers’ support. The article passed without further discussion.
