Damariscotta voters signed off on a nearly $2.2 million municipal budget during their annual town meeting held June 10 at the Lincoln Theater in Damariscotta.
Although pressed by a 34.97 percent increase in the previously approved secondary education budget, voters approved almost all town expenses as recommended and overruled the board of selectmen and budget committee, agreeing to fund eight provider agencies and rejecting an voluntary 10 percent reduction in salary and hours for Damariscotta Town Manager Matt Lutkus.
Much of the evening was spent wrestling with the politics of an interlocal agreement between Damariscotta and Newcastle. The two towns already share a public works department.
Early on in the meeting, voters wrestled with an article that would have granted the board of selectmen authority to enter into interlocal agreements with the town of Newcastle “for the purposes of performing municipal services jointly per the term and conditions contained in the agreements.”
John Roberts attempted to amend the article to restrict the agreement to administering the shellfish and harbor ordinances, but after his amendment failed on a tie vote, voters dispatched the article entirely, only to bring it back for reconsideration following a brief intermission.
After the break, voters agreed to reconsider the article at the recommendation of town officials in light of previously approved amendments to the shellfish conservation and shoreland zoning ordinances.
Voters subsequently agreed to amend the article much as Roberts originally suggested, inserting the phrase “for the purposes of performing municipal services related to shellfish administration and harbor management related functions” after the word “jointly.”
In his comments on the article as proposed, Roberts pointed out the language of the article placed few restrictions on the board. Roberts said he did not oppose such agreements where they made sense, but there was little in this article to guide the public or restrict the board. “There are no end dates, no restrictions,” he said.
Addressing the existing public works arrangement, Roberts said figuring out how much the arrangement was costing each town was difficult even though he had asked for and received budget information from both towns and studied the data extensively. “I have done my homework,” he said. “It is confusing.”
“What bothers me is we have an agreement, we have extended it, and it has increased costs, which increases the taxes I have to pay,” Roberts said.
In a subsequent article seeking authority to raise and appropriate $362,733 for public works, voters debated doing away with the interlocal agreement entirely, before rejecting an amendment and approving the article as proposed.
Incoming Selectman Josh Pinkham attempted to amend the article to zero out the $105,495 line item funding the interlocal agreement and add $65,495 to the $228,045 public works line item.
Pinkham said he was trying to to return the town to what it had before the interlocal agreement was first approved in 2011. “We would still have a highway department … they would have more hours in town,” he said.
Asked to speak to the impact of Pinkham’s proposal, Superintendent of Roads, Buildings, and Grounds Steve Reynolds said he was “blindsided” and couldn’t speak to the specifics, except “If you eliminate the interlocal agreement you would be eliminating my services and then you don’t have a manager,” he said.
Speaking in favor of the agreement, resident Dick Mayer said potholes and roadwork appeared to be done efficiently and in a timely manner. “Everything I see tells me that it’s working,” Mayer said.
Voters subsequently rejected the effort, agreeing to keep both the agreement and the funding level intact.
Voters also rejected the selectmen’s and budget committee’s joint recommendation not to fund eight provider agencies, nonprofit organizations that submitted petitions to be on the town warrant.
Informed the totals of the provider agency requests amounted to about “$12,000” ($12,965), or roughly “three hundredths of a mil,” voters approved all agency requests as petitioned, approving $3,500 for the Central Lincoln County YMCA, $2,990 for Spectrum Generations, $1,500 for Coastal Kids Preschool, $1,500 for Lincoln County Dental Inc., $1,320 for Midcoast Maine Community Action, $1,155 for New Hope for Women, and $500 each for the Ecumenical Food Pantry and the Pemaquid Watershed Association.
When questioned, Selectman Robin Mayer said the board was simply trying to contain costs in light of the increases in the education budget. Mayer said the selectmen felt residents could choose to make private donations to the provider agencies.
“It did not speak to the provider agencies themselves, it was more an intention to limit the (tax) increase,” Mayer said.
Voters approved $21,000 for the Skidompha Library and $6,037 for Lincoln County Television, expenses which were recommended by the selectmen and budget committee.
All told, residents approved $691,850 for general government and $774,310 for public safety, including $502,235 for the police department and $98,520 for the fire department.
Voters agreed to appropriate $138,229 for debt service; $240,000 for various capital reserve accounts; $439,531.93 in county taxes, $5,750 for community services, including $2,500 for recreation and holiday funds, $1,250 for the town clock, and $2,000 for the town’s share of the seasonal trolley service; and approved taking $6,000 from trust funds for the worthy poor.
Prior to the meeting, Damariscotta Town Manager Matt Lutkus said taxpayers are likely to see a property tax hike of roughly 8 percent despite the effort to hold the town budget. The increase in taxes would stem primarily from the increase in the secondary education budget.
In other business, voters approved amendments to the shellfish conservation ordinance, the shoreland zoning ordinance, and the town’s zoning map, approving a minor change to the boundary of the commercial zone off Biscay Road.
The shellfish conservation ordinance amendment eliminates conservation requirements that potentially conflict with federal labor law and require the shellfish conservation committee to establish conservation requirements each year, which the selectmen would review.
The change to the zoning map would move the boundary of the commercial district at the request of Hagar Enterprises Inc. to allow the business to expand operations at its 162 Biscay Road property. The change affects a few acres at the back of the property.
