About 729 Waldoboro residents turned out to vote in their annual town meeting by referendum on Tuesday, June 10, approving an $8.5 million budget and electing a select board member, school board member, utility district trustee, and three budget committee members.
Voters approved most budget items except a $6,000 allocation to Midcoast Conservancy, putting the final budget at $8,510,226, an increase of $251,871 or 3.05% over last year.
The amount to be raised through property taxes is roughly $3,123,843, a decrease of $850 or 0.03% compared to last year.
The budget category with the largest increase is public safety, which totals $3,916,858 as proposed, an increase of $343,636 or 9.62% over last year. The largest contributor to this rise is the budget for Waldoboro EMS, which totals $2,069,938, an increase of $223,594, or 12.1%, over last year. The rise is partially due to the need to raise wages to stay consistent with surrounding towns, according to budget documents.
The budget for general government is $752,299, an increase of $28,556 or 3.95% over last year. Much of this is accounted for in the budget line for the municipal building, which Waldoboro Town Manager Julie Keizer said in April was attributable to rising IT and cyber security costs.
The budget for the public works department totals $1,365,430, an increase of $66,840 or 5.15%. The budget for community development, which encompasses the planning and development office, totals $171,095, an increase of $8,228 or 5.05%.
Reuben Mahar won election to the town’s select board with 363 votes, according to unofficial results. Candidate William Bragg received 308 votes.
To the RSU 40 Board of Directors, Danny Jackson was reelected for a three-year term with 487 votes to challenger Sonja Sleeper’s 213 votes. Jackson is the board’s chair.
The contested race for a three-year term on the Waldoboro Utility District Board of Trustees was won by incumbent Michael Thayer, who received 325 votes to challenger Ann Leamon’s 266.
The contested race for three three-year terms on the budget committee was won by incumbent Valdemar Skov, the committee’s chair, with 417 votes; newcomer Benjamin Hunter, with 387 votes; and Matthew Lawrence, with 369 votes. Calvin Morin received 297 votes.
Voters also approved amendments to the town’s land use ordinance that updates which committees and individuals must review certain types of land use applications and approved an amendment to the town’s tax increment financing district changing the way that Volunteers of America will pay in lieu of taxes on its School Street property.
The nonprofit organization will pay 10% of the assessed value of the property to the town yearly in lieu of taxes.
Voters also approved a sex offender residency restriction ordinance with 616 votes in favor and 78 against. The ordinance establishes a buffer zone of no more than 750 feet around schools and other places where children gather, where people convicted of sex offenses against people younger than 14 cannot live.
