Waldoboro voters cut $43,199 out of the municipal budget at a special town meeting on July 9 at Medomak Valley High School.
The special town meeting afforded an opportunity to re-address eight budget items that failed at the town meeting polls last month: the office of the town manager (proposed $94,575), the assessing department ($77,521), the police department ($484,403), the recreation department ($49,927), planning and development ($61,221), upkeep of the AD Gray building ($14,765), employee benefits ($481,199) and authorization to exceed the state property tax limit.
The meeting lasted more than five hours. Although nearly 350 voters arrived and cast votes on early articles, dozens left about halfway through the meeting after the vote on the recreation department budget, and more trickled out during the next few articles. By the end of the meeting, only about 130 people remained.
Entering the meeting, the budgets in question totaled $1,263,611 out of a total municipal budget of $3,591,072.
Every article received thorough attention, extensive debate and at least one motion to reduce the budget, but in the end only the office of the town manager, employee benefits and the recreation department saw reductions to their budget; all other budgets passed as originally proposed.
After much debate about the merit of children’s activities and Recreation Director Kyle Santheson’s workload, a motion to reduce the recreation department by more than $20,000 – about half their budget – failed. Then, in what may have been the most intriguing moment at the meeting, resident Scott Murray motioned to reduce the recreation department by $5000 – a 10 percent reduction, in line with what many residents called for from each department – with the assurance that the $5000 “will be taken care of.”
The recreation department budget passed with Murray’s amendment. He declined to specify exactly where the money would come from, but said after the meeting that he and other residents will raise the money.
The office of the town manager’s budget was reduced by just over $7000. Town officials said that money will almost surely need to come out of the town manager’s salary, which would reduce it to $61,635. Residents expressed concerns echoed by town officials that this could inhibit the town’s ability to find a qualified town manager.
Employee benefits were cut by $31,199, from a proposed total of $481,199. This will need to come from health insurance or life insurance, because the other items in the benefits budget are legally required. Employee life insurance ($9863) is part of Maine State Retirement, but Interim Town Manager Eileen Dondlinger said on July 12 she believes this can be legally cut or eliminated.
Health insurance was proposed at $301,325. Reducing this figure will require more town employees paying into their health insurance plans, or some employees paying a higher percentage than they currently pay.
Thirty Waldoboro employees are eligible for health insurance; two decline to receive it and instead receive a $1000 per year cash stipend. Seven employees receive single-person coverage at a cost of about $5300 each per year, and 21 employees receive family coverage at a cost of $12,000 each per year.
The town pays the full cost of single coverage for all employees. Of the 21 employees with family plans, 10 were hired after July 2003 and pay 15 percent (about $1000 per year) of the difference between a single and family plan. The other 11 employees with family plans were hired before that date and do not pay into their health plan. If every employee paid the 15 percent required of employees hired after July 2003, it would save the town a little over $11,000.
If every employee paid 10 percent of the total cost of their health insurance, it would save the town about $30,000.
The town also funds an HRA, which is an account used to reimburse employees for their deductibles. This account is funded at $25,000 in the original budget proposal. This allows the town to provide a high deductible plan – saving the town a significant amount of money – while only paying deductibles for health services employees actually use. Money in the HRA that is not used rolls over to the next year.
It will be up to Waldoboro Board of Selectmen to decide how to make reductions to the health insurance cost.
The debate over each budget came to a question of what level of service residents want. Department heads and town officials told residents their budgets had been trimmed to the bare bones, and the only place left to cut was salaries, which would reduce the services available to residents.
The police department budget prompted the longest debate of any article, eventually passed as proposed at $484,403.
During that debate, residents voted down two amendments by narrow margins: the first to cut two police officers, the second to cut one officer.
Residents in favor of cutting that budget argued the town could rely more heavily on the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office. They also questioned why two officers are receiving raises during a recession, when, they said, taxpayers aren’t getting raises.
The raises increased the budget by about $4500 total, said Waldoboro Police Chief Bill Labombarde. The two officers were owed raises for two years and “it costs us $25,000 to $30,000 every time we change personnel,” he said.
Regarding increased use of LCSO deputies, Labombarde said response times would increase dramatically without Waldoboro police officers on duty.
Currently, the police department is staffed at 1.4 officers per 1000 residents – below the state recommendation of 1.7 officers per 1000 residents. The 1.4 officers includes the school resource officer, who is unavailable to respond to calls outside the school the vast majority of the year.
“I think we run a pretty tight ship, and I think we do a good job with the service we provide,” Labombarde said.
Residents against cutting the police department budget said they want to make sure officers are available when they are needed.
“If we’re going to have a police department, I want to have at least one officer on duty at all times,” one resident said. Currently, there are never more than two patrol officers on duty at any given time, and several shifts include only one patrol officer.
Cutting officers now, and rehiring when the economy is better will be expensive and the new officers will not know the community as well as officers who have been on duty for some time, residents argued.
