Most years, the Edgecomb select board and school committee totally agree on town meeting warrant articles on local education; 2022 isn’t one of them. The two agree on total education spending for Fiscal Year 23: $3,049,380, a 5.79% drop. They agree on raising $1,647,792 and appropriating $2,054,562 for funding public education from pre-kindergarten to grade 12 as described in the Essential Programs and Services Funding Act. In fact, both agree on 15 other educational warrant articles. But there are two articles where they don’t.
On the May 2022 referendum town meeting warrant, the two disagree on Article 57, which seeks voter authorization for use of additional state subsidy, and Article 59, which seeks approval for creating a capital improvement reserve account.
In Article 57, the school committee wants to use potential additional state subsidy funds to increase expenditures for school purposes in cost center categories approved by the committee. Heather Sinclair is the school committee chairman. She described this year’s proposed budget as a reduction in expenditures and a significant use of additional revenue (surplus) to lessen the burden on taxpayers by 10% over what the budget committee recommended. “Given the extraordinary needs of this challenging time, the school committee is pleased with the whole budget process, and hopes to see community support for all school related warrant articles,” she wrote in an e-mail response.
Select Board Chairman Dawn Murray is a former school committee member. She and board members Ted Hugger and Mike Smith reached a consensus that the original budget request included all necessary funding for educational services. Selectmen prefer allowing taxpayers to decide how potential excess state funds are spent. “We are perpetually making a guess on how much or how little the town will receive for school funding. Instead, excess can end up in the undesignated fund and the school committee can propose how to spend it, and allow taxpayers to decide if they’d prefer to see it help offset next year’s burden,” she wrote in an email response.
Article 59 reads: “Capital Improvement Reserve: Shall the Town authorize the School Committee to appropriate up to $200,000 from the unassigned fund balance to be placed into the Capital Improvements Reserve account, and authorize the school committee to expend amounts from the reserve, as it deems appropriate, for its designated purposes during the fiscal year.”
The article explains why the school committee requested the capital reserve account. “The purpose of the Capital Improvements Reserve is to set aside funds for future capital improvement expenditures building additions or renovations, grounds additions or renovations, buses and other student transportation vehicles, equipment, etc.). The current balance of this reserve is $68,371. The unexpended balance of this reserve will not lapse to the unassigned fund balance at the end of the fiscal year. Approval of this article does not affect the amount of taxes being raised.”
The school committee believes a capital reserve account would address an ongoing challenge of stabilizing the budget, by eliminating large year-to-year budget decreases followed by increases. This was a goal set three years ago and agreed upon by the school and budget committees along with the selectmen, Sinclair said. She also reported Alternative Organizational Structure 98’s accounting firm recommended the funds implementation. “We presented this year's reserve account recommendations alongside the rest of the budget, and explained that these funds were to be considered as part of the overall budget, as we had not included possible costs such as repaving the driveway directly in the budget,” she wrote in an email. “We were not asked many clarifying questions about these fund amounts. We do not know why the budget committee recommended against them. Supporting these reserve funds does not increase costs to local taxpayers, but it allows for the best, most efficient payment of any future needs, which ultimately saves the local taxpayers money.”
Selectmen oppose the large contingency account due to concerns it would tie up too much money in a school reserve account during difficult financial times. On April 4, Murray explained why selectmen opposed Article 59. She reported the school already had a couple of accounts with higher reserves than the municipal government. Murray reported the town has a $10,000 capital reserve account for a new fire truck, and the school’s proposal would result in hundreds of thousands in dollars in reserve accounts.
“We understand the need for repairs to the parking lot, but they don’t even have an estimate. When the time comes, voters should have a say in those future projects,” Murray said. This will be the third consecutive year Edgecomb residents will decide their town meeting style of government via a referendum instead of an open public setting. Again, the coronavirus resulted in selectmen opting for a referendum format. Residents will vote from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, May 21 at the town hall. This year’s proposed combined municipal and school budget is $4,901,553 for Fiscal Year 23 which reflects a 1.98% decrease. The municipal budget is $1,852,173, a 5% decrease.
Six incumbents are running unopposed for municipal offices. Selectman Ted Hugger is seeking another term, as are planning board members Barry Hathorne and John Dunlap. Road Commissioner Scott Griffin and Tax Collector Rebecca Brewer are seeking re-election, as is Town Clerk and Treasurer Claudia Coffin. But there is no candidate for school committee. Incumbent Art Garey decided not to seek re-election. He was appointed to fill Murray’s unexpired three-year term last year after her election as selectman.
In municipal budgetary matters, selectmen recommend voters approve $80,000, up from $79,278, for general government and general expenses. Town officials’ salaries would also rise from $74,952 to $84,371, a 12.57% increase. The recommended municipal salaries for Fiscal Year 23 are select board chairman, $5,000; selectmen, $4,000; tax collector, $12,000; deputy tax collector, $3,850; treasurer, $4,000; town clerk, $4,000; registrar of voters, $808; school committee chairman, $1,000; school committee members, $750; town accounting, $4,750; planning board chairman, $1,000; planning board members and alternates, $200; public health officer, $250; secretarial and website administration, $2,750; custodial, $1,500; animal control officer, $1,912; code enforcement officer, $12,000; emergency management agency coordinator, $1,000; other employees, $3,500; and town share of medicare and social security, $6,351.
There are 60 articles on this year’s warrant. Article 41 seeks approval to enact a proposed solar ordinance. In March 2021, the planning board conditionally approved a New York City-based power company’s application to build a solar array on U.S. Route 1. Syncarpha Capital, LLC plans to construct a 4.9-megawatt solar array with 17,500 panels. But the town doesn’t have an ordinance dealing with solar power. The planning board reviewed what other communities had for solar power ordinances which resulted in writing one based on Wiscasset’s and other language provided by Maine Municipal Association.
While several Lincoln County towns are dealing with skyrocketing ambulance services, Edgecomb is not. The town is in year three of a five-year contract with Central Lincoln County Ambulance Service. Article 12 requests authorization for $17,000 for ambulance service payment. Selectman Ted Hugger discussed Edgecomb’s agreement with CLC Ambulance Service and reported “a significant increase is expected once the contract expires.”
Article 16 seeks voter authorization for raising and appropriating $115,748 for fire department operation. The department is seeking $18,493 in additional funding or a 19.01% increase. Other fire department proposed expenditures include $54,149 for a truck payment. Article 14 seeks authorization to raise and appropriate $13,537.36 and appropriate $40,612.08 from the TIF (Tax Increment Financing) Project Town Cost Sub account. The town is also seeking $39,073 for fire department compensation. Article 17 seeks approval for the following salaries, fire chief, $9,500; assistant chief, $2,250; captains, $1,000; lieutenants, $500; firefighters, $17,250; custodian, $1,698; clerk, $2,600; and town share of Medicare and Social Security, $2,776.
Article 19 seeks authorization to appropriate $10,000 for the Fire Truck Reserve Fund.
Articles 22 and 23 would contribute funds to libraries in Wiscasset and Boothbay Harbor. Article 22 seeks authorization for raising and appropriating $3,500 and appropriating $1,000 from cable television franchise fees for Wiscasset Public Library. Article 23 seeks authorization for raising and appropriating $1,000 and appropriating $1,000 from cable television franchise fees for Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library.
This year, four social services groups sought a municipal contribution. For new organizations seeking financial support, Edgecomb requires a petition to gain warrant access. Article 36 would change the requirement from a petition to a letter sent to the select board. The four non-profit groups seeking municipal funding are Spectrum Generations, $1,155; Midcoast Maine Community Action, $1,500; Healthy Kids, $2,000; and New Hope for Women, $1,000. Articles 42-60 pertain to the proposed school budget. After meeting with selectmen and the budget committee, school officials proposed a budget which added taking an additional $200,000 from undesignated funds to offset the financial burden on local taxpayers. The proposed $350,000 would reduce the local commitment to $2,182,069 which is a 10.3% reduction.
Edgecomb Town Hall. File photo
