The proposed 2011 Bristol general services budget is $30,248.20 higher than the 2010 budget but the portion of the budget raised by taxation remains the same.
If Bristol voters pass the budget at the annual town meeting on Tues., March 15, the town would instead carry forward a larger balance and use increases in revenues from cable franchise fees, a Dept. of Transportation block grant and excise tax collections to offset the increase.
A $23,469.76 increase in payments on two fire truck loans would allow the town to pay off the smaller of the loans, otherwise set to mature in May 2012. The early payoff would save the town money on interest charges, Bristol Town Administrator Kristine Poland said.
The increase is partially offset because the proposed budget doesn’t appropriate funds for the fire truck reserve. In 2010, Bristol voters appropriated $10,000 for the reserve.
The payroll would be $25,950 higher, largely due to salary and benefits for a second full-time highway department employee, a proposed addition to town staff.
The highway equipment line is $21,900 higher because the town plans to purchase an excavator in order to “do some of our own ditching work,” Poland said.
Other line items are down, including snow removal, which is $8894 lower at $320,946. According to Poland, the figure includes the final three months of payments to its current contractor, John Prior, as well as the first two months of a lower, three-year contract with O.W. Holmes, Inc.
The Bristol Board of Selectmen recommendations include reduced appropriations for three non-profit organizations – the Bristol Area Library ($13,000 in 2010, $14,000 request, $10,000 recommendation), the Central Lincoln County YMCA ($2000 in 2010, $2000 request, $1000 recommendation) and Youth Promise ($1500 in 2010, $1500 request, $1000 recommendation).
The recommendations reflect “the selectmen’s opinion about how much those agencies should be allotted through taxation” and “may change at town meeting,” Poland said.
Lincoln County Television (LCTV) requested $7972.55 last year. At town meeting, voters denied the request and LCTV “didn’t receive any money in 2010,” Poland said.
This year, LCTV requested $8000 and the selectmen recommended $5000.
LCTV has “made some strides over the last year,” Poland said. Last year, some residents objected to appropriating funds for the organization because cable television, on which LCTV is broadcast, is not available in some areas of Bristol.
Now, “they can watch it online,” Poland said, with a new streaming service offered by LCTV. The local access channel also offers more Bristol-related programming now, Poland said.
According to LCTV data provided to the town, the channel broadcast 320 hours of programming “specific to Bristol” in 2010. About 70 percent (887) of the town’s households are cable subscribers as of Dec. 2009.
The selectmen recommended $1000 for Healthy Kids, which didn’t receive an appropriation in 2009 or 2010 but requested $1200 this year.
The selectmen recommended $8102 for Central Lincoln County Adult Education, the same amount appropriated last year but less than its $9254 request.
Adult Education director Ellen Dickens outlined increases in graduates and enrollment in a Dec. 16, 2010 letter to the selectmen.
“Providing more services to more people requires more money,” Dickens wrote. “Adult Education is an extremely inexpensive and cost-effective program working with a group of students who desperately need our services.”
According to Planning Board secretary Heather Houston, the proposed amendments clean up “circular references” and reword a section of the ordinance. Houston described the amendments as “pretty minor.”
To read the full text of the Subdivision Ordinance and the proposed amendments, visit Bristol’s website at www.bristolmaine.org.
