In addition to considering the education and municipal budgets, voters at the South Bristol annual town meeting on Tuesday, March 12 will consider authorizing a change to how town office employees are selected for the second year in a row.
Voters will consider changing the positions of tax collector, treasurer, and town clerk to appointed positions, rather than elected.
South Bristol Select Board member Robert Clifford said the intention of the change was to give the town more flexibility in the hiring process.
In the past, according to Clifford, since the positions were elected, the candidates had to be from South Bristol. While the current staff is all from South Bristol, the change ensures the town is able to hire the most qualified candidates, wherever they may hail from.
“We’re just trying to get some consistencies in the process,” Clifford said.
Attendees at last year’s South Bristol town meeting voted down a similar proposal with only 6 voting in favor out of nearly 70.
However, Clifford said select board members felt it was an important issue to bring up again.
“We’ve had some personnel change over in the past year and we’ve realized the importance of getting and retaining the best people in those positions,” Clifford said.
South Bristol is one of the only towns in Lincoln County that still elects those positions, according to Clifford.
South Bristol Select Board Chair Bruce Farrin Jr. said if the article passes it wouldn’t go into effect until 2025.
Elsewhere in the warrant, voters will consider whether to amend the town’s shore land zoning ordinance to give the planning board the authority to issue dock permits.
Farrin said in the past, the select board also had to look over the dock permits, but the intention with the change is to streamline the permitting process.
Voters will also consider amending the definition of the height of a structure in the town’s shore land zoning ordinance.
According to Article 16 in the town’s warrant, the proposed amendment would allow legally existing nonconforming structures, located within an area of special flood hazard, to be relocated, reconstructed, replaced, or elevated to be consistent with the minimum elevation required by the Federal Emergency Management Association in the town’s floodplain management ordinance.
Voters will also consider the $1,218,378 municipal budget, an increase of $105,815 or 9.51%, from the previous year.
The amount of the budget funded by taxation will also see an increase. This year, $676,335 of the budget will be funded by taxes, an increase of $252,258 or 59.48%.
The largest contributors to the increase were the transfer station budget, the town’s contract Central Lincoln County Ambulance Service, the renewal of the town’s snowplowing contract, repairs to fire department vehicles, and town buildings repairs.
The transfer station expense category is $233,988.76, an increase of $36,677 or 18.59%.
According to Clint Gilbert, manager of the Bristol-South Bristol Transfer Station, the increase is due to a rise in costs of fuel, maintenance, and salary, but most significantly for a proposed loan to fund improvements of the facilities operations this year.
South Bristol’s portion of the CLC Ambulance Service budget totals $187,253, an increase of $22,264 or 12.7%. According to Nick Bryant, service chief of CLC Ambulance, the increase in the budget was largely due to payroll and insurance expenses.
Town contributions to CLC Ambulance are determined based on property valuation. The taxpayers of South Bristol are responsible for 20.21% of the budget.
Due to a $200,000 request from the Stratton Fund for the school, the town’s portion of the CLC Ambulance Service budget will be paid for by taxation, whereas in years past it was paid for from the fund.
The town’s snowplowing budget is $255,000, an increase of $10,000 or 4%. South Bristol contracts with McClintick Foundations for snowplowing services.
The South Bristol Fire and Rescue budget is $110,000, a $10,000 increase, or 10%. According to Clifford, the increase is due to expected maintenance of aging vehicles and is a line item to create a reserve fund for trucks.
The budget category of town building expenses is $34,600, an increase of $19,200 or 124.6%. Clifford said it’s a balance that’s usually carried forward, but select board members believe more will be needed in the budget for the year in light of the recent damage to the Maine coastline due to severe weather.
The Rutherford Library is requesting $10,000, an increase of $6,000 or 150% from the previous year. According to library board member Bob Emmons, the increase is because the library hasn’t asked for more than $4,000 for nearly 20 years. With the library’s increasing importance as a community center, the library board felt the increase was appropriate, Emmons said.
Voters will also consider the $2,977,781.07 education budget. The budget is an increase of $446,908.10, or 17.66% from the previous year. The amount of the budget funded by taxation will also see an increase. This year, $2,362,543.93 of the education budget will be funded by taxes, an increase of $209,696.94 or 9.74%.
A significant difference in this year’s education budget is the inclusion of items that will be paid for by the Stratton Fund or from the Burns Foundation.
According to AOS 93 Business Manager Peter Nielsen, it is required by the state that all work done on the school must appear in the budget.
Until this year, the school budget did not reflect work being paid for by outside accounts. The inclusion of these items makes up the majority of the increase education in the budget.
Outside contributions total $300,000: $100,000 from the Burns Foundation and $200,000 from the Stratton Fund.
The inclusion of items previously not paid out of the school budget are reflected in the other instruction budget, which totals $100,000, an increase of $99,900 or 99,900%, the facilities maintenance budget, which totals $384,597.15, an increase of $131,350.06 or 53.84%, and the special education budget, which totals $446,884.28, a decrease of $31,791.60 or 5.07%.
Due to the disbanding of the Compass and Pathways programs this year — special education and life skills programs— schools around AOS 93 are now having to account for the education of their special needs students. While South Bristol School is no longer responsible for their share of the cost of those programs, $191,249.17, the school is still responsible for serving the needs of all its students, according to Nielsen.
To anticipate these and the unforeseen changes ahead with navigating without those programs, the school committee recommended putting together a $100,000 special education contingency fund from the Stratton Fund.
SBS also is dealing with PFAS water contamination in its well system that the school committee has requested $100,000 from the Stratton Fund to remedy.
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are man-made chemicals widely used since the 1940s in consumer products and industrial applications. According to the Maine Division of Environmental and Community Health’s website, most people in the United States have been exposed to some level of PFAS and there is evidence to suggest that continued exposure above certain levels may be unhealthy.
The $100,000 is for the cost of drilling a new well and the accompanying housing, and trench work.
According to Nielsen, costs in the other instruction budget category include extracurriculars such as sports, supplies, and coaching stipends, were formerly paid for out of the Burns Foundation, but are now being accounted for in the education budget. Previously, a $100 line item was used as a placeholder.
The transportation and buses budget totals $207,281, a $59,286.40 increase or 40.06%. Of the increase, $55,000 comes from need for K-8 special education transportation that has historically been included in the school’s cost share of the Compass and Pathways programs.
The regular instruction budget totals $1,271,633.77, an increase of $138,691.97 or 12.76%. This is largely due to expected contracted salary increases for staff that had already been negotiated.
Another contributing factor is secondary private tuition, which totals $439,103.53, an increase of $91,353.53 or 26.27%. According to South Bristol School Committee Chair Sara Mitchell, the increase is due to an increased of South Bristol students enrolled in high school.
At the election of officers on Monday, March 11, South Bristol voters will elect two people to fill two three-year terms on the South Bristol School Committee.
Mitchell, in her bid to run for another three-year term on the committee, was the only candidate to return nomination papers. Laura Kowacki and Warren Storch have both announced write-in campaigns.
Elsewhere on the ballot, current South Bristol Select Board member Robert Clifford is seeking another three-year term. (See related article in this edition)
The polls will be open for the election of officers on Monday, March 11 from 12:45-7 p.m. at the South Bristol town office.
The open town meeting will begin at 7 p.m., Tuesday, March 12 in the South Bristol School gymnasium.
