The Damariscotta Board of Selectmen and the Damariscotta Budget Committee disagree about whether town employees should receive raises, and how much the raises should be.
The boards split on raises for the public works and town office staff at a joint meeting March 26. Both boards voted against raises for the code enforcement officer and town planner.
Damariscotta voters will have the final say on the raises and all budget matters during annual town meeting at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, June 11 at the Lincoln Theater.
Damariscotta Town Manager Matt Lutkus requested a 5 percent pay increase for the town clerk and deputy town clerk. The clerks last received pay increases in 2012.
The selectmen voted 3-2 to reduce the raise to 3 percent.
Chairman Josh Pinkham, Robin Mayer and Vicki Pinkham voted to reduce the raise. Ronn Orenstein and David Atwater voted against the motion.
Vicki Pinkham said the town should develop a pay plan with automatic increases. Such a plan would eliminate the annual debate about employee pay, she said.
Atwater said he thinks the selectmen “should really be looking at what we’re getting, and we have an office that runs very efficiently with a very small staff.”
The budget committee recommended the original budget with the 5 percent raise.
Selectman Robin Mayer moved to reduce the selectmen’s stipends by $500 apiece.
“We should be leading by example, and if we’re asking other departments to cut, we ought to cut ourselves,” Mayer said.
The motion did not receive a second. The selectmen receive an annual stipend of $1,500. Damariscotta voters increased this amount from $1,000 in 2012.
The selectmen did not take a vote on the administration budget as a whole. The budget committee approved a figure of $338,733.94, an increase of $80,798.94 or 31.33 percent.
The increase stems primarily from the transfer of insurance costs from a separate budget to the administration budget.
Health and life insurance for the town manager, health insurance for the town clerk and deputy town clerk, and unemployment compensation and workers’ compensation will cost $66,120.21 for the next fiscal year.
The public works budget proposal included a request for a 3 percent raise for the superintendent and a 2 percent raise for the foreman. Both employees received a 3 percent increase last year.
Josh Pinkham moved to decline the request and maintain the present pay rate for both employees.
The motion passed, 4-1, with David Atwater opposed.
Superintendent Steve Reynolds noted that the town received a quote of $54,000, almost his annual salary, for an engineering firm to supervise a two-month construction project in the town. Reynolds will perform the work as part of his duties.
Reynolds also said the town of Newcastle could still approve his request for a pay increase.
Damariscotta shares its public works employees with Newcastle. Damariscotta employs the department foreman and a part-time summer employee, while Newcastle employs the superintendent. The towns share payroll costs.
Lutkus, the town manager, said the contract between the towns does not address a situation wherein one town grants an employee a raise and the other does not.
Josh Pinkham defended the board’s decision as “the fair way to do it” because the town office staff did not receive a raise last year.
The budget committee unanimously recommended the original budget with raises intact.
Damariscotta separates public works into two budgets. The Damariscotta Highway Department budget consists of expenses specific to Damariscotta.
The winter roads contracts account for the majority of the highway department budget, which also includes expenses for culvert replacements and other maintenance and repair operations.
The highway department budget is $237,745, an increase of $3,050 or 1.5 percent.
The town has a separate budget for the expenses Damariscotta shares with Newcastle for joint public works operations. This budget includes employee pay and benefits and most vehicle and facility expenses.
The selectmen recommended a joint public works budget of $106,850.25, an increase of $8,156.25 or 8.26 percent.
The budget committee recommended the original request of $108,908.76, an increase of $10,214.76 or 10.35 percent.
Damariscotta’s share of lease payments for a mini-excavator accounts for $8,000 of the increase.
Lutkus requested a 5 percent raise for part-time Town Planner Anthony “Tony” Dater.
“Tony didn’t request it, but he has been working for the same hourly rate for quite a few years,” Lutkus said.
The town pays Dater $35 per hour per the terms of his contract.
The selectmen voted to turn down the request, 3-0-2. Atwater and Orenstein abstained.
The budget committee also recommended maintaining the planner’s current pay rate.
Damariscotta Code Enforcement Officer Stan Waltz receives a stipend of $350 per two-week pay period. He requested a $10-per-week increase.
The selectmen and the budget committee voted against the request.
“He got a raise last year,” Josh Pinkham said.
The selectmen and the budget committee, after the changes, recommended a planning and development budget of $46,849.68, a decrease of $7,678.32 or 14.08 percent.
The selectmen and the budget committee also unanimously recommended the following budgets, in order of size:
- capital reserve, $198,100, increase of $8,100 or 4.26 percent
- debt service, $137,787, decrease of $2,232 or 1.59 percent
- transfer station, $126,000, increase of $1,730 or 1.39 percent
- assessing, $43,997.53, decrease of $4,777.47 or 9.79 percent
- municipal building, $39,781.60, increase of $1,282.60 or 3.33 percent
- cemeteries, $29,540.50, increase of $5.50 or 0.02 percent
- insurance, $21,458.15, decrease of $70,318.85 or 76.62 percent
- contingency, $20,000, decrease of $5,000 or 20 percent
- streetlights, $15,500, decrease of $1,000 or 6.06 percent
- legal services, $15,000, no change
- Lincoln County Television, $5,672, no change
- general assistance, $5,000, no change
- worthy poor, $4,000, no change
- fireworks, $2,700, no change
- Central Lincoln County Ambulance Service Inc., $2,400, no change
- town clock, $1,250, increase of $250 or 25 percent
- traffic lights, $1,000, decrease of $800 or 44.44 percent
