From left: Newcastle Select Board members Rufus Percy, Thomas Kostenbader, Karen Leavitt Paz, and Joel Lind speak to residents at the Monday, June 17 annual town meeting at Lincoln Academy. (Nolan Wilkinson photo).
Around 40 Newcastle residents voted to pass all articles, including the establishment of new severe storm reserve and perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances reserve accounts at the hour-long annual town meeting Monday, June 17 in the Lincoln Academy cafeteria.
The first five articles of the warrant were voted on at the polls on June 11, where residents validated the Great Salt Bay Consolidated School District and Newcastle secondary education budgets and favored the reorganization of school district into a regional school unit.
At the meeting, the town voted to add $168,000 to a newly created severe storm reserve. Newcastle Town Manager Kevin Sutherland proposed the account’s creation after a storm last year caused a culvert under Lynch Road to become compromised, he said.
While the culvert has since been temporarily stabilized, it cost the town around $168,000 to fix.
“It’s using some of our savings account to create a reserve account that we can go to use to pay for major storm events going forward,” Sutherland said. And then ideally, if there’s a federal declaration, we can get reimbursed for those funds”
Sutherland said around 90% of the cost of repairs to Lynch Road was reimbursed by the federal government because of last year’s disaster declaration.
The town also voted unanimously to add $11,000 to and create a perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances reserve account. Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS, are long-lasting chemicals with components that break down very slowly, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. PFAS may be found in food and parts of the environment and exposure to PFAS chemicals can be harmful, according to the EPA.
The town was notified in March by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection that the state would be investigating the presence of PFAS in areas around Newcastle. Sutherland said the investigation is ongoing.
The funds will be used for filters for those found to have PFAS in their water sources, 90% of the cost of this would be reimbursed by the state, according to Sutherland.
Town Manager Kevin Sutherland (left) explains the severe strom reserve fund to residents at the Monday, June 17 annual town meeting at Lincoln Academy. (Nolan Wilkinson photo)
Also approved were updates to the zoning codes, which Sutherland said were meant to bring Newcastle into compliance with L.D. 2003, a state housing law passed in 2022.
Most of the other articles on the warrant concerned the $3,431,436 municipal budget, a $265,629 or 8.39% increase over last year.
The approved public works budget was $812,450, a $150,051 or 22.65% increase from last year. The majority of the increase came from the $607,250 winter operations budget, a $178,601 or 41.67% increase from last year. The winter operations budget includes funding for the plow contract and for winter salt.
The cost was partially offset by funding cuts for bridge maintenance, tree work, material, street signs, and salt shed maintenance.
The approved general government category totals $735,168, an increase of $63,502.60 or 9.45% from last year, which mostly came from a new contract for Sutherland, as well as regular pay increases.
The planning and development budget approved by voters totaled $90,671, a $40,980 or 31.13% decrease from last year. Most of the decrease came from a drop in the broadband capacity budget, which is no longer needed as the town completed its $35,000 broadband expansion.
Voters approved a transfer of $1,058,035 to existing reserve accounts, a $23,255 or 2.25% increase from last year. The increase is accounted for by a $967,535 addition to the roads capital projects reserve. Select board Chair Karen Leavitt Paz said the funds would be put toward the repaving of around 1,000 feet of Academy Hill Road, as well as for a few other road repairs.
Residents grouped articles 17-32, which concern regular business of the select board, into one motion and passed it without discussion.
More information can be found by calling 563-3441 or by going to newcastlemaine.us.
