After doing the math, the Damariscotta Board of Selectmen raised the town’s mil rate from 13.4 to 14 at their July 21 meeting.
The mil rate determines the tax landowners pay per $1000 of property value. The new mil rate means taxes on a $100,000 home amount to $1400.
Chairman Dick McLean made a motion to raise the rate to 14.1. McLean said the hike would cost him an additional $169, an amount he described as inconvenient but manageable, even on a fixed income. McLean did not receive a second for his motion.
Selectman Vicki Pinkham followed with a motion for 13.9, but Pinkham’s motion, likewise, did not garner support.
Selectman Dave Wilbur suggested that selectmen “split the difference,” but Pinkham disagreed.
“I won’t go 14,” she said. Many Damariscotta retirees rely on Social Security, she said, and cannot afford a sizable increase in their tax bills. “Basically the town is going to have to start making cuts so people can afford to live here,” she said.
Pinkham made another motion, this time for 13.95, but again failed to get the necessary second in order to force a vote.
Wilbur’s motion for 14 was seconded by David Atwater and passed, 3-2, with Pinkham and McLean in opposition.
During discussion, Pinkham wrote the words “for sale” on a piece of paper and held it up. “You’re going to see a lot of these,” she said.
In other business, selectmen agreed to accept an application from Robert Orr to serve as a consultant as the town looks into form-based codes. The town must still negotiate a contract with Orr before he can start work.
McLean originally objected to the application, in which Orr outlined a five-step process culminating in the presentation of a “final calibration of Form-Based Code, Regulating Plan and possible Amendments to Comprehensive Plan.” Orr’s services, over a six month period from July to December, would cost the town $33,000, plus per diem charges for additional, “optional” services.
“It seems like the early stages are really redundant,” McLean said. “We’re going to pay him $5000 to gather documents I could go home and get him in five minutes.” McLean asked Town Manager Greg Zinser to arrange for Orr to meet with selectmen.
“You want him to sell himself is what you want him to do,” Pinkham said.
“Yes,” McLean said.
Atwater also said he’d like Orr to appear before selectmen, but Wilbur discouraged hesitation. “[Orr] is the only consultant we have viable to us,” he said.
Eventually, McLean decided to support the application. “The very worst that could come out of hiring this consultant is, in the end, he helps us decide we don’t want to do this,” he said. Selectmen approved the application, 4-1, with Atwater in opposition.
According to McLean, negotiations are ongoing, but Piper Village has agreed to pay for Orr’s services “within reason.”
Selectmen discussed the July 20 meeting of the Damariscotta Planning and Advisory Committee (DPAC) and form-based codes at length.
Wilbur spoke in support of the change in coding. “You can’t do it with the traditional coding we have right now,” he said, in reference to the construction of proposed development Piper Village.
McLean repeatedly expressed uncertainty about the change. “When someone asks me ‘Do you want form based codes?’ it’s like asking, ‘Do you want drinking establishments?'” he said. The question is too broad, he said.
Zinser spoke in favor of the codes. “Eliminate the word form-based and put smart codes in,” he said.
Zinser said some townspeople want to know why the town can’t simply “tweak” existing codes. “I still think that form-based codes are the way to go here,” Zinser said.
The town can, however, adjust the form-based codes for Main Street, Business Rt. 1 and Piper Village, to provide for the unique challenges of each district, Zinser said.
