Bremen voters returned incumbent municipal candidates to their seats at the polls on Saturday morning, June 24, and worked through a 55-article warrant with little debate at annual town meeting that afternoon.
Most audience questions asked for the reasoning behind item increases; no amendments were made to articles.
The warrant authorized the select board to raise and appropriate $1,443,662 this year for its municipal operation, an increase of $203,792 or 16.43%. $65,000 of that amount is the town’s first dedication of its American Rescue Plan Act funds, and another $60,226 is paid by unexpended funds carried forward from previous years.
A separate education budget for kindergarten through twelfth grade was approved at $570,307.30, a decrease of $55,343.01 or 8.84%.
Article 10, to see what amount the town would raise and appropriate for the salaries and benefits of town officers, was recommended to total $197,500, an increase of $15,400 or 8.45%. Voters questioned increases to the select board stipend, road commissioner stipend, and code enforcement officer compensation in particular.
Pieh said the select board’s compensation totaling $10,500 had been the same number since she began her tenure in 2004, and this year’s increase to $14,400 was recommended by the budget committee.
Select board member Boe Marsh said the road commissioner position has been vacant and the board hopes to fill it using this money, a similar amount to previous road commissioner compensation.
Bremen Town Clerk Melanie Pendleton explained an increase in the code enforcement officer line from $11,000 to $14,250 would allow the town to retain both an officer and a deputy “so there is always someone available.”
Article 12, concerning the amount raised for professional services, included an increase for the town attorney from $5,000 to $17,500. Pieh said the town has been without an attorney for some time and recently hired Peter Drum, who serves as attorney for other neighboring towns and was the “best deal” available.
Article 14, for roads and bridges, included a jump in snow removal costs up to $237,585, an increase of $42,684 or 21.9%. Pieh said the increase was a result of increasing expenses everywhere.
Article 24, which dedicates funds to town committees, included $25,000 of American Rescue Plan Act funding dedicated to the broadband committee. According to Pendleton, this article and another $40,000 of ARPA funds dedicated to operating accounts by Article 11 were the first uses of the $87,000 total awarded to the town.
Article 46, funding the Bremen Library, was approved at the select board’s recommendation of $14,000; the library’s original funding request was $13,000.
Later articles funding the education budget, for K-8 students and secondary education, passed for a total of $570,307.30, a decrease of $55,343.01 or 8.84%.
Within the education budget questions, Article 42 authorized the select board to transfer $75,000 from unexpended funds to the education reserve account.
School committee chair Matthew Hanly said this reserve account needs to be built up in case a new student requiring special education services moves to town; those services, which the town is legally obligated to provide, can cost more than $100,000 a year, according to Hanly.
Pendleton said the amount came from unexpended funds over the last two years.
Other articles passed with minimal discussion.
At points throughout the meeting, applause was offered for Pieh’s reelection, the town office staff, and Bruce Poland’s placement of Memorial Day flags in the cemetery at no cost to the town.
In municipal elections held Saturday morning, incumbent Wendy Pieh was reelected to a three-year term on the Bremen Select Board. Pieh, who has held her seat continuously since 2004, ran against current planning board chair Walter Voskian for the seat. She received 202 votes to Voskian’s 62.
All other races were uncontested; Walter Radloff was reelected to the planning board, Christa Thorpe to the school committee, and Bruce Poland to the harbor committee, all for three-year terms.
