The Waldoboro Board of Selectmen are planning a workshop meeting for Monday, June 29 on the topic of the 2015-2016 budget for the office of the town manager, which failed to pass at annual town meeting 424 votes to 286.
Selectmen said the workshop is to provide information to the public about the specific employees and duties the failed budget affects, to solicit information from voters as to why they voted the budget down, and begin to focus in on a figure to bring back for another vote.
The workshop is scheduled for June 29 at 5:30 p.m. at the Waldoboro Municipal Building.
The budget in question was proposed at $136,794, an increase of $5,708 or 4.3 percent over the current year. During the budget development process, the budget for the office of the town manager received a 3-2 recommendation from the selectmen, and a 5-3 vote from the budget committee.
The budget affects a total of three employees, and the proposed increase was essentially a 3 percent wage increase and resulting increases to benefit costs, Town Manager Linda-Jean Briggs said previously.
Non-unionized town employees were proposed to receive 3 percent wage increases – and most did, as the other budget articles all passed – or essentially the same average increase unionized town employees will receive in the coming year, officials have said.
When the selectmen took up the issue at their June 23 meeting, discussion circled around whether another referendum vote should be held on the budget to hopefully involve a larger number of voters, or to hold an open meeting so discussion could occur before the vote and the figure could be amended if necessary.
Several people speculated during discussion as to why the budget failed – because it was a no-confidence vote in Briggs, that townspeople do not get annual raises in the same manner town employees have, or it relates to turmoil in the town office – but Briggs and others were adamant that no one knows exactly why the budget failed because it was a referendum vote.
“The voice isn’t heard, the check mark is,” Briggs said.
Briggs outlined potential costs for a special town meeting: an open meeting would cost about $100 to hire a moderator; total costs for a referendum with professionally printed ballots would cost $949; and a referendum with town-printed ballots would cost $773 but would disrupt town employees’ other work.
Though they did not discuss what figure they might put forward to the voters for the budget next time around, the selectmen voted 4 in favor (newly elected Chair Jann Minzy abstained) to bring the budget to the voters as a referendum again.
To help learn about voters’ concerns with the budget and to share information about the positions and duties affected by the budget, the selectmen agreed to hold the workshop meeting on June 29 and are encouraging the public to attend.
In other business, selectmen elected officers for the select board and the board of assessors.
Selectman Katie Winchenbach nominated Selectman Ron Miller to serve as chair of the selectmen, but received no second.
Minzy was nominated by Selectman Abden Simmons, which Selectman Clint Collamore seconded.
The selectmen elected Minzy as chair with a vote of 3 in favor, with Winchenbach against and Miller abstaining.
Miller was elected vice chair for the selectmen. Simmons was elected chair of the board of assessors, and Winchenbach was elected vice chair.
