Following a 2 to 2 deadlock earlier in the week on how to move forward with unresolved budget issues, the Waldoboro Board of Selectmen gave unanimous recommendations for a compromise budget plan at their Sept. 19 joint meeting with the Budget Committee.
The Budget Committee also came close to unanimously recommending the articles, voting 7 to 0 in favor of all but two articles, where member Duncan Morrell dissented.
The plan is an attempt to address a $106,000 shortfall in anticipated state revenue sharing and includes the third attempt to pass budgets for the police department and the Finance and Customer Service Department for fiscal year 2014.
Included in the changes are:
– A $106,000 reduction of intergovernmental revenues, to $234,463.
– A $2710 reduction of the Finance and Customer Service Department to $176,576 due to savings in benefits.
– A $586,884 police budget, incorporating a $49,411 cut of a patrolman position and seeking $5290 in savings of overtime, reserve officer utilization, and health insurance savings.
– A $9159 reduction of overtime in the Public Works budget to $695,039.
– A $65,499 planning and development budget, recognizing $8830 in savings from hiring the new planner late in the year.
– A $5600 transfer of funds to pay Public Works to do a portion of the work on the transfer station day pad project.
– And a $25,000 utilization of undesignated fund balance.
Morrell opposed the use of undesignated fund balance, voting against that article and saying that even though the town is further ahead in rebuilding the balance than expected, rough times could still lie ahead. He also opposed the article regarding the police department budget.
Police Chief Bill Labombarde said that despite the proposed cuts, the department may still be able to retain 24 hours of coverage per day for the town.
“I think it’s obtainable, we just have to figure out what path we’re going to take to do it,” he said.
Asked her opinion about the outlook for future revenue sharing from the state, Budget Committee member and District 50 Rep. Ellen Winchenbach said the increased sales tax is supposed to help improve revenue sharing.
“I hope that we will be able to get even more revenue sharing next year,” she said.
Despite the lack of a final vote by the select board to execute the warrant or a vote on whether to hold a referendum or open-style special town meeting, Town Manager John Spear said three of the selectmen (James Bodman, Ted Wooster, and Ron Miller) had signed the warrant for a referendum as of mid-afternoon on Sept. 20.
A lengthy discussion on which style of meeting to hold did take place, co-mingled with a discussion on Selectman Carl Cunningham’s motion to approve an article that would move the due date of the first semi-annual property tax payment from Friday, Nov. 15 to Tuesday, Dec. 3.
The date was in question because the referendum, which is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 5, falls so close to the originally approved Nov. 15 due date.
If the budget is finally approved, by the time tax bills were sent out residents would not receive them until Nov. 12 or 13, Spear said.
Those speaking in favor of the referendum-style town meeting cited an anticipated higher voter turnout, a 2008 vote by the town in favor of referendum voting, and the risk of special interest groups hijacking the budget in an open meeting.
Selectman Chair Craig Cooley said the 2008 vote was 1919 to 717 in favor of referendum voting.
“I don’t feel comfortable going against referendum voting after that many people voted that’s the way they wanted to go,” he said.
Those in favor of the open-style meeting spoke to the ability to discuss and explain the articles and the potential to have the budget resolved in a much shorter time period.
Specifically, several people spoke to the faster turnaround as a way to mitigate or eliminate the need for the town to take out a tax anticipation note to cover up to two payments to Regional School Unit 40 and the town’s annual county tax payment.
Potential interest on the note could be around $2000, officials said.
“I would recommend you have an open town meeting and get this passed, done, and behind us,” Budget Committee Chair William Blodgett said.
Though officials have previously said the town only has enough cash on hand to pay its bills through approximately Oct. 1, Finance Director Eileen Dondlinger said payments for things like excise tax, transfer station revenues, and building permit fees have always covered the “normal bills” like payroll.
The tax anticipation note would be needed primarily for the big payments, such as those to the school district and county, she said.
Ultimately, the selectmen voted 3 to 2 to move the date of the tax bills, with Wooster and Bodman in opposition.
