Bristol residents approved a school renovation referendum at the polls on Monday, March 20, and approved all warrant articles at annual town meeting the following day.
Twenty years after rejecting a similar article, voters approved a $6,425,000 general obligation bond for school renovation with a vote of 446-204 on Monday.
The article, recommended by the school and budget committees and the select board, authorizes the Bristol Select Board to issue 15-year bonds or notes to fund additions and improvements to the Bristol Consolidated School.
With 5.3% interest adding $2,603,251, the total bond is expected to cost the town $9,028,251.
Project goals include increased security for students and staff, electric and heat efficiency improvements, building compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, more space for students, and a cafeteria to double as a community room.
Two new classrooms will be added, three-phase power will be added to the building, and heat pumps will be installed. A separate entrance will make the space usable for town needs while school is in session.
In total, the education budget approved this year is $6,909,579.94, an increase of $1,192,715.11 or 20.86%.
Special education costs have risen across AOS 93, and this year that budget is $1,243,486.10, an increase of $150,090.49 or 15%.
Regular instruction is funded at $2,885,981.64, an increase of $85,696.14 or 4%.
Other large education increases came in $337,903.32 for school administration, an increase of $62,121.49 or 23%, and $375,904.50 for student and staff support, an increase of $51,748.49 or 16%.
All discussions on the education articles were clarifying questions about what services each section included.
The municipal budget of $3,482,377.19, an increase of $95,732.83 or 3.33%, was approved by voters. One article was amended to correct a mistyped number, and all other items passed as recommended by the select board and budget committee.
According to Town Administrator Rachel Bizarro, the municipal budget increase is mostly due to higher costs for utilities, fuel, and payroll.
Article 25, funding town government, totaled $797,500, an increase of $77,250.
Much of that increase is a 206% rise in the assessment maintenance contract, up $37,000 to total $55,000. In the same article, the payroll budget is $520,500, up $28,750 or 6%.
An article seeking appropriation for capital reserve accounts is down to $48,500, a decrease of $27,500 or almost 40%.
Article 30, covering town roads and bridges, highway equipment, and the town garage, is $1,092,453.26, an increase of $51,953.26 or 5%.
Within that budget line, a $620,000 appropriation for snow removal, an increase of $100,000 or 19%, is partially offset by a $450,000 road and bridge maintenance line item down by $50,000, or 10%.
The Bristol Mills Dam and Fish Ladder budget is down $50,000, falling from $177,000 to $127,000. An error on the warrant listing the amount at $137,000 was amended at the meeting. $125,000 of the funding is slated for the final stage of the fish ladder project.
Voters also approved the continuation of the Bristol Comprehensive Plan Committee following a progress presentation. A draft plan is expected by May.
Article 39 authorized the town to accept a gift of the Willing Workers Hall on Bristol Road from the Bristol Area Lion Charities. Select board member Paul Yates said it was noble of the Lions to give the property to the town rather than selling it.
“I really feel it’s necessary we hang onto it,” Yates said, and added he felt it was important to preserve the town’s historical property.
In response to an audience question, he said there were no plans yet for the building’s use, but “it has potential.”
Article 49, authorizing the town to continue expanding broadband to the town using $24,300 balances carried forward, $700 in surplus, and $100,000 of American Recovery Plan Act funds, also raised discussion.
An audience member asked why the town is giving companies money to put in infrastructure for broadband if those companies would charge residents for the service.
“It’s a subsidy to a private company, I won’t deny that,” Bristol Select Board Chair Chad Hanna said, “but it’s for services we wouldn’t get otherwise.”
Hanna said Tidewater Telecom would not likely invest in the infrastructure without funding from the town, and that broadband access is one of the few uses allowed for the Rescue Plan Act funds.
The article passed as written.
Other articles adjusting the subdivision ordinance and making what moderator Don Means described as “housekeeping” amendments to the land use ordinance passed without discussion.
The year’s budget will be funded by increases of $400,092.10 in funds carried forward, up $132,062.74 or 40%; $1,587,652.25 in appropriations, an increase of $327,580.74 or 30%; $790,000 in excise taxes, up $40,000 or 6%; a $48,068 Maine Department of Transportation Block Grant, up $5,568 or 6%; and $57,508.75 in fees and interest, up $42,508.75 or 283%.
Decreased funding comes from $455,846.09 of surplus, a drop of $371,562.40 or 45%, and $112,000 of American Rescue Plan Act funds, down $57,410 or 34%.
The meeting adjourned just over an hour past its opening.
Voters also elected officials in six uncontested races at the polls on Monday. A total of 650 ballots were cast.
Hanna was reelected to the select board with 592 votes, Bristol School Committee Chair Darin Carlucci received 540 to be reelected, and Laurie Mahan was reelected as parks commissioner with 583 votes.
Incumbent Ben Pendleton, write-in Michael Rosa, and Jessica Westhaver were elected to the Bristol Planning Board with 569, 578, and 577 votes, respectively. Pendleton and Rosa’s terms are for three years, while Westhaver’s is for two.
