Next week, on Sept. 11, choices presented at two special town meetings, each present real consequences in the towns of Waldoboro and Wiscasset.
In Waldoboro voters will decide whether to lease the former A.D. Gray School building to the Central Lincoln County YMCA and consider four budget articles designed to reduce the town’s expenditures for the coming fiscal year.
Over in Wiscasset, voters are going to the polls to reconsider several budget articles, all initially vetoed at the annual town meeting in June.
It is very easy for those of us not in those two towns to argue for passage for everything as presented. The arguments in favor are, we feel, self evident. However, those are not our tax bills to bear and it’s not our town government.
In both cases the municipal government belongs to the citizens in those two towns and it’s their right to make their own decisions.
We do think the wisest course of action in both towns may feel like the most expensive in the short run.
On one hand, if Waldoboro voters veto all four budget articles, they will hold the budget line, yes, but the town will run out of money to pay its bills in the immediate future, and their vetoes will force the board of selectmen to create another warrant for another special town meeting, which in light of the recent Supreme Court decision, could well be an open town meeting.
Waldoboro voters also have the opportunity to welcome the YMCA to their town, reviving a historic property and perhaps giving a shot in the arm in the drive to revitalize Waldoboro’s downtown.
Yes, of course, the possibility always remains that another, better deal is coming down the pike but there is also the possibility this may be the best offer the town is going to get.
Over in Wiscasset one of the most interesting issues is the question of funding the town’s code enforcement officer.
In this case, if voters veto the article, there is the very real possibility Wiscasset will lay off it`s current code enforcement officer, which is a union position by the way, and going without that position filled, is in violation of both state law and their own local ordinance.
We understand and respect the Wiscasset Budget Committee’s desire to hold the line, but if Wiscasset voters really want to save some money at the expense of the above, they will have the additional pleasure of bringing all permitting, inspecting and enforcing of their own ordinances to a screeching halt.
It is their right to do so if they wish.
Whatever the outcome, merely by going to the polls next Tuesday and deciding for themselves, voters in both towns will be making the right choice.
