By Abigail W. Adams
Edgecomb selectmen meet Monday, May 4 for the final time before the annual town meeting Saturday, May 16. Stuart Smith (right) is up for reelection. Municipal officials will be voted on Friday, May 15. Also pictured are Selectmen Jack Sarmanain and Jessica Chubbuck. |
A full-time fire chief, transferring money from the Woodend Boat Fund to the surplus account, and the disposal of the Edgecomb Eddy School’s old John Deere tractor are just a few of the issues Edgecomb residents will decide at their annual town meeting Saturday, May 16.
Edgecomb selectmen finalized the warrant for the annual town meeting during a special meeting April 22. Two additional warrant articles were added to the warrant at the selectmen’s meeting Monday, May 4.
Voters will decide whether they want to add $74,200 to the municipal budget for the position of a full-time fire chief in article 11. The requested salary for the position is $48,000 with $26,200 in benefits.
If approved, the position would increase the amount to be raised from taxpayers for Edgecomb’s municipal budget from $697,691 to $764,895. Edgecomb’s projected municipal budget for the 2015-2016 fiscal year, without a full-time fire chief, is approximately $884,303. The local contribution to the education budget, if approved, is $2,539,182.
According to article 56, an addendum meant to replace article 28, $98,000 is being raised from taxpayers for Edgecomb’s snowplow contract, with $180,000 to be drawn from excise taxes deposited into the surplus account. Article 28 originally asked for only $56,976 to be raised from taxpayers for the snowplow contract, but the figure was revised after the April 22 meeting.
The full-time fire chief warrant article will be voted on prior to the fire department salaries in the warrant, so the salaries can be amended if article 11 passes. According to selectmen, a motion will be made to reduce warrant article 13 for fire department salaries by $7,000, the stipend for the fire chief, if Edgecomb votes to make the position full-time.
In an effort to raise additional funds for Edgecomb to offset a deficit discovered during the 2013-2014 audit, voters will be asked in article 22 to raise $1,600 to survey portions of the tax-acquired Lallis property. Part of the property will be used to expand Schmid Preserve trails. Selectmen hope to sell two lots on the property to create additional revenue for the town.
Article 25 will ask voters, “what sum the Town will authorize to be transferred into surplus from the Woodend Boat Fund.” According to selectmen, the Woodend Boat Fund has approximately $180,000 in it.
The article was placed on the warrant as a compromise after outspoken objection to selectmen’s proposal to empty the fund and transfer the balance to surplus. Voters will decide if they want to use the fund to offset the negative surplus balance discovered during the 2013-2014 audit.
As of press time, Edgecomb’s 2013-2014 audit still has not been completed, and the extent of the town’s deficit is still unknown.
If voters decide to use the fund for surplus, voters will decide how much to transfer to the surplus account. The compromise would allow the fund to remain intact and be built back up over time.
Selectmen placed the article on the warrant without a recommendation for approval or a recommended amount to be transferred from the fund. Due to the number of people in town that contacted him requesting his opinion, Chairman Jack Sarmanian publicly expressed his support for using the Woodend Boat Fund for surplus at the May 4 selectmen’s meeting.
Due to objections over disbanding the Woodend Boat Fund, article 26 will ask voters whether they would like to designate money collected from boat excise taxes to the Woodend Boat Fund. The inclusion of article 26 in the warrant was requested by those who objected to the proposal to dissolve the fund.
According to residents Jarryl Larson and Thomas Boudin, supporters of the fund, the warrant article will gauge public support for the Woodend Boat Fund and its mission – to create public water access and a boat launch in Edgecomb.
Edgecomb voters will also decide whether to enter into an inter-local agreement with Wiscasset for code enforcement services. The proposal was submitted by Marian Anderson, former Edgecomb code enforcement officer and current town manager of Wiscasset.
The cost of the contract with Wiscasset, $8,800, of which $3,800 will be covered by plumbing fees, was folded into town officials’ salaries in article 10. According to Sarmanian, selectmen will discuss the inter-local agreement with residents when article 10 is discussed at the annual town meeting.
The annual town meeting will also see an end to the months-long controversy surrounding Eddy School’s old John Deere tractor. Article 55, added to the warrant on May 4, will ask voters whether they will authorize selectmen to sell the tractor and appropriate the proceeds to the principal of the new tractor loan.
Voting for Edgecomb’s municipal officials will be held Friday, May 15 from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the town office. Warrant articles three through 56 will be voted on at the annual town meeting, to be held in the same location May 16 at 10 a.m.