Coinciding with the upcoming state election on Tuesday, Nov. 5, Waldoboro voters will once again throw their legislative weight for or against a proposal to finalize lingering budget issues for Fiscal Year 2014.
The board of selectmen and town officials have been working toward a resolution since the police department budget and finance and customer service budget (part of which was split out and has since passed) failed at town meeting June and a $106,000 shortfall in anticipated revenue sharing from the state came to the town’s attention.
In September voters rejected an article which lumped together a $106,000 combination of budget cuts and undesignated fund balance utilization in an attempt to resolve the shortfall. The cuts were aimed primarily at the police department ($60,000) and public works ($35,000).
Now, with the unanimous support of the selectmen and near-unanimous support of the budget committee members present for their vote, residents have the opportunity to vote individually on articles offering a new ratio of cuts and fund utilization.
On the warrant, Article 2 asks for $176,576 for the remaining unapproved portion of the finance and customer service budget; the same amount presented in the September special town meeting warrant.
The amount is a $2710 reduction due to the savings in benefits from the retirement and subsequent rehiring of Finance Director Eileen Dondlinger, officials said.
Article 3 asks for $586,884 for the Waldoboro Police Department, incorporating the $49,411 reduction of a patrolman’s position and seeking $5290 in savings in health insurance, reduced overtime and reserve officer utilization.
Article 4 presents a budget of $695,039 for public works; a $9159 reduction from the budget which voters passed in June. The cuts would be accommodated through reduced overtime.
Article 5 seeks a reduction for the approved planning and development budget to $65,499 to realize $8830 in savings from the new director, Willa Antczak, being hired after the fiscal year began.
To further close the gap from the anticipated revenue loss, Article 8 proposes the appropriation of $25,000 from the town’s undesignated fund balance and Article 7 proposes increasing “Other Financing Sources” by $5600 to $121,526.
The $5600 would come from a transfer of funds from a Waldoboro Transfer Station construction project to pay for public works employees to complete a portion of the project, officials said.
Article 6, a proposed reduction of intergovernmental revenues by $106,000 to $234,463, is to properly reflect the loss of anticipated revenue sharing on the town’s books, Town Manager John Spear said.
Since there are two budgets which have yet to gain initial voter approval this year, the selectmen have not yet committed the town’s property taxes.
Article 9, which would change the first semi-annual due date for taxes from Nov. 15 to Dec. 3, was proposed because the earliest property owners could expect tax bills after commitment, if all the other articles pass on Nov. 5, would be a matter of days before the taxes were due, officials said.
Unlike the town meeting in June and the special town meeting in September, the November warrant includes no provision for partially funding the police department or the finance and customer service department if their budgets again fail to pass.
Currently those two departments have spending authority through Dec. 31, Spear said.
If either of those budgets fail, the selectmen could potentially choose to hold either an open special town meeting or another referendum special town meeting to try passing either or both budgets, Spear said.
If the selectmen opt for a fourth referendum, one could possibly be held close to but before the end of the calendar year, he said.
Should any of the other proposed budget cuts, the undesignated fund balance utilization, or fund transfer fail, the total tax commitment to the town would be that much higher, Spear said.
Voting will be at the Waldoboro Municipal Building on Tuesday, Nov. 5 with polls open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
