Thirty-four residents attended Dresden’s Annual Town Meeting June 16 quickly approved every item on the warrant as written.
Moderator Bob Howe conducted the meeting, held at the Pownalborough Hall.
Most articles included funding equal to last years approved budgetary items. Among these were salaries for all Selectmen, and Town officers, in addition to the Code Enforcement Officer. Fire Chief, Assistant Fire Chief, Town Administrative Assistant, Animal Control Officer, Planning Board Chairman and The Deputies for the Treasurer, Town Clerk, Excise Tax Collector And Property Tax Collector.
Article 14 raised the budget of the Fire Department by $8000 due to operating increases. The Selectmen’s recommendations were immediately accepted by the voters.
Article 16 proposed a new budget item of $3000 to reimburse volunteer firefighters for their out-of pocket expenses in gas, clothing and supplies.
The major financial changes approved involved authorizing the Selectmen to enter into a contact of no more than three years for the purpose of providing winter road maintenance. Article 27 authorized the Selectmen to enter into a multi-year contract, offering a projected savings of $138,500 over the next three-year period included the costs of sand and salt.
Article 27, Highway Accounts, included $135,900 for the first year of the new winter road maintenance contract, $40,000 for sand, $75,000 for Roads and $26,000 for paving and capital improvements. This is a decrease of $101,300 for Snow removal, an increase of $40,000 for sand, a decrease of $14,000 for town roads. Equal funding was provided for paving as in 2011. This all totaled a decrease of $75,300 on the Highway accounts.
Capital improvements approved included funding the painting of the Town Office and miscellaneous repairs at the Recycling Center for a total sum not to exceed $12,000.
Only three of the articles sparked discussion.
In article 41, the Town voted on donations to several organizations that serve the townspeople. As with all other articles, the selectmen made recommendations on the amounts requested. Questions were raised about the decision to recommend a $500 to the The Richmond Area Food Pantry that had requested a donation of $3,000.
When asked if they could raise the amount being approved from $500 to $1000 they were told they could not vote that increase by law. As part of the overall article, the gathered members were allowed to vote simply to approve or disapprove the recommended amounts.
Residents asked how they could make their wishes known on this matter, and a non-binding straw vote was taken on the question, “Should the Town of Dresden increase the donation to the Richmond Area Food Pantry next year?” A show of hands passed the straw vote by all but two attendees.
It was further explained that language seen in past town warrants had been omitted so that budget amounts could not be changed, just approved or rejected.
Discussion of Article 49 concerned the 7 percent per annum interest charged on overdue taxes. The question was raised about the fairness of this rate, considering the much lower interest rates these days.
“Dresden has always charged the highest rate allowed by the State of Maine,” explained First Selectman Phil Johnston, it encourages timely payment.
Article 56, concerned the franchise fees paid by Time Warner Cable, approximately $5000. The funds are earmarked for a recreational fund to encourage people to take part in activities not related to Internet service. Several residents complained that they could still not get Internet because of prohibitive costs from Time Warner to reach their homes.
All articles, including those discussed, were approved by the Dresden residents in attendance by a show of hands.
The elected officers, Phil Johnston as First Selectman and Kim Rzasa as Treasurer, Town Clerk and Excise Tax Collector were sworn in at the end of the meeting.
The articles passed on Saturday morning decreased appropriations by $52,950, down from $749,201.60 in 2011 to $696,251.60 in the 2012 budget.
