After the State and Local Government Committee voted 8-5 April 6 to issue an “ought no to pass” recommendation for her bill, State Rep. Stephanie Hawke (R-Boothbay Harbor) remained optimistic about her proposal. Hawke sponsored LD 972, “An Act to Amend the Lincoln County Budget Committee.”  The 14-person committee has eight Democrats and seven Republicans. All seven Democrats and one Republican voted against recommending a change in the Lincoln County budget process. But Hawke had the support of the committee’s five remaining Republicans.

“I think it’s a good sign. The committee will issue a divided report and it will be heard on the floor,” Hawke said.

The second term legislator’s proposal comes from complaints received from municipal leaders within her district. Several selectmen who have served on the county budget committee are frustrated with an apparent lack of influence within the budget process.  The bill would alter how the final county budget is approved. Currently, the commissioners have the final say. But Hawke’s proposal allows the county budget advisory committee to veto the commissioners’ final proposal.

On March 29, a combination of 18 municipal and county officials, former legislators and taxpayers testified about the budget advisory committee’s effectiveness. During the hearing, legislative committee members indicated concerns about several provisions of the bill. Prior to the April 6 committee vote, Hawke presented three amendments attempting to mollify legislators’ concerns. The three amendments changed the budget committee’s term limit from one to three years, required a two-thirds committee membership vote rather than two-thirds members present to veto the county commissioners’ budget, and made the legislative member a non-voting member except in the case of a tie.

Despite the changes, a majority of committee members couldn’t support altering the budget process. The majority believed it would violate the principle of one man, one vote. Hawke’s bill would change the budget committee’s composition. The new membership would be 19 members representing each municipality instead of the current nine members with three each representing a district of approximately 11,000 residents.

“My biggest burn is the town with the lowest population has the same say as the one with the most. I just can’t support that,” said Rep. Mark Bryant (D-Windham). “If you don’t like your commissioner then vote them out.”

Hawke testified most Lincoln County residents have a different relationship with a county commissioner than selectmen. She described her proposal as allowing municipalities that pay the most in county taxes to have more say in how tax dollars are spent. Boothbay is one of five towns Hawke represents in House District 89. She maintained, even though Boothbay isn’t the largest stakeholder by population, it is the largest county taxpayer and deserves more input in the budget process.

Hawke produced letters of support from the Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, Edgecomb and South Bristol select boards endorsing her bill.

“Most people don’t know who their commissioners are so when there is a problem they go to their selectmen. County is one of the few governments that doesn’t have any oversight by the people. All we want is to give the towns more say in the process,” she said.

Hawke expects both legislative chambers to vote on the proposal later this spring.