Answers Continue to Vary on Failed Budget in Waldoboro

Close to 40 people attended a workshop meeting of the Waldoboro Board of Selectmen June 29 to discuss the failed budget for the office of the town manager, but after 90 minutes there was no clear consensus as to why exactly the budget failed or how to make it pass.

Several people gave reasons the budget may have failed – whether their personal opinions or reported reasons from the community – including turmoil in the town office, as has been suggested before; that after more than 15 months in working for the town, the town manager has not yet had a performance evaluation; a split recommendation by the board of selectmen on the budget; or, as one resident said, he just cannot afford the taxes.

The one thread that followed through the discussion was that the focus needs to be on the budget itself, and not personnel, but several officials said the budget may not need to be adjusted and another said there may not be much room for cuts.

The budget for the office of the town manager was proposed at $136,794 for 2015-2016, an increase of $5,708 or 4.3 percent over 2014-2015.

According to town officials, the budget provides for the town manager’s salary, 50 percent of the executive assistant/manager of information services’ salary, and 40 percent of the town office receptionist’s salary.

Town Manager Linda-Jean Briggs read a list of dozens of duties those other two employees provide as part of the office of the town manager, including providing a wide variety of technical support for the town office and support for other town departments.

Along with salaries and benefit costs for those positions, the budget includes funding for organizational dues, postage, office supplies, travel reimbursements, and a cellphone, according to Finance Director Eileen Dondlinger.

“That’s it, so there isn’t much to work with” as far as adjusting the figure, she said.

As was provided in other departmental budgets this year, this budget included a 3 percent cost-of-living raise for non-union personnel. It has been a past practice of the town to provide non-union personnel raises equal to the average increases of unionized personnel, Dondlinger said.

The raises and increases to the costs of benefits made up the bulk of the budget’s increase, officials said.

Both the selectmen and budget committee were split on their recommendations for the budget, voting 3-2 and 5-3 in favor, respectively.

When it went to the polls at town meeting June 9, voters knocked the budget down 424 votes to 286. Most other budgets – including other departments which also included 3 percent raises and saw similar overall increases – passed by similar or even stronger margins.

Voters did pass a measure allowing the selectmen to expend up to 3/12 of the 2014-2015 appropriation for any budget that failed, which will fund the office of the town manager through Oct. 1, officials said.

According to Selectman Chair Jann Minzy, the office of the town manager is considered an essential service for Waldoboro’s style of government, and if it ceases to function it will affect all other services in town.

Minzy said she has a call in for legal advice on the issue and will advise the board and the public at the selectmen’s July 14 meeting.

Early in the workshop meeting, resident Marcia Smolin said she went into the community to ask why people voted the budget down, and said the lack of a completed performance evaluation of Town Manager Linda-Jean Briggs may be an issue – a suggestion others in the audience concurred with.

According to Briggs, the town had no process in place for evaluating its manager when she started work, nor did the select board set any goals on which they could base an evaluation.

The selectmen came to a consensus on five broad goals for Briggs at their June 9 meeting, most with associated and more specific objectives: economic development, communication, fiscal concerns, reviewing and updating policies, and working on the comprehensive plan process.

An evaluation process is currently underway for Briggs, and will be ongoing, Minzy said.

Budget committee member Ellen Winchenbach and economic development committee member George Seaver both tried to steer the conversation back to the budget number during the meeting.

“I feel that budgets should be based on the issues on hand, what it takes to run the office of the town manager. We need to be fair and non-biased, and it should be a … sensible budget,” Winchenbach said.

“Whether there’s pros or cons to a particular town manager, as one element to that budget, is a personnel matter,” Seaver said. “It’s nothing to do, really, with this problem we’re trying to solve. That would be some future thing about expanding contracts or not, or are we paying enough for a town manager or are we not.”

Selectman Ron Miller suggested keeping Briggs’ salary at the level specified in her contract until she renegotiates with the board, an approach that former Selectman Bob Butler reiterated later in the meeting.

“As far as anything else, the only suggestion that I could have is that we take part of the (3 percent) raise away from the regular employees, but I don’t think it’s fair to take it away from some but not all,” Miller said.

Minzy said it would seem fair, since voters approved the 3 percent raises for the other non-union employees, that all should receive the same increase.

Selectman Clint Collamore and budget committee member Valdemar Skov both indicated support for keeping the budget number as originally presented.

“As a budget committee member, I still feel that the figure that was proposed is a good number, and I’m not sure how it would fly again, but if people can see past the personal stuff and look at it as a financial management number, I think it might be approved,” Skov said.

“I don’t believe it’s the number,” said budget committee member Craig Lewis. “All the other budgets in the town passed except the town manager’s budget.”

Lewis said he believes turmoil in the town is what has the voters upset and why the budget failed, something Chief of Police Bill Labombarde and Waldoboro EMS Director Richard Lash disputed.

“I work here every day, I don’t see the turmoil,” Labombarde said. “I think there’s a perception, it’s an untrue perception. There is no turmoil here. We all work well together.”

“I have not seen anything from my dealings with the current town manager that would lead me to believe that she has anything but the best interest of the town of Waldoboro in her heart,” Lash said. “When I hear … from our community … that the office is in turmoil, I’m sorry, I’m here every day and I don’t see it.”

“I think (Lewis) is right, turmoil is a real issue,” said George Seaver. “And the worst possible outcome of this discussion would be to think of changing the town manager.”

The town needs stability and continuity of leadership, Seaver said.

Seth Hall, chair of the town’s planning board, put the onus of leadership on the selectmen.

He described the select board as “singularly indecisive” and said a lot townspeople feel things are in turmoil because a lack of clear direction from the selectmen.

“You guys are supposed to be not only implementing our form of government, legally, but offering some leadership. That’s why we elect you,” Hall said.

Hall urged the select board to vote unanimously in support of the budget, even if they want to send a message about town management in other ways.

“One way to restore faith in the way the government of the town works is to do something strong and unanimous, and I hope you will,” he said.

The selectmen are holding a special meeting Tuesday, July 7, for an executive session on legal rights and duties, and will hold their next regular meeting on Tuesday, July 14.