News

Citizens vote to reduce budget increase
By Elizabeth Prata

Gray--A wave of fiscal restraint washed through Stimson Hall last Saturday as citizens voted affirmatively to reduce a proposed municipal budget increase of nearly 14%.

Despite being the first sunny day of the summer, about 150 people assembled for the annual Town meeting, which began at 10 a.m. and lasted over three hours. Right, Stimson Hall

Gray has a Council-Town Meeting-Manager form of government. In this form, the legislative tasks are shared between the town meeting and an elected council. The most common scenario is to have citizens at town meeting vote on the budget and the council tends to all other legislative functions. The Manager implements legislative policy as directed by Council. About 20 towns in Maine have this form of government.

Council chair Pam Wilkinson opened the meeting with a welcome and a thank you to the citizens for attending and for having been involved in the budget development process thus far. "It's all about balancing issues with needs and wants," Wilkinson said. "We'll discuss the issues and at the end we should leave as neighbors," Wilkinson continued.
Dan True was elected moderator, and the meeting began.

How much to increase the budget? Citizens' view

The Council had proposed a 2004-2005 municipal budget of $5 million dollars. This represented an increase of 13.9% over last year. It called for various reserves for capital improvements, one-time expenditures for vehicles, and a moderate raise for town employees, among other items. A stand-alone warrant would have established a one year law enforcement contract for a 40-hour per week officer dedicated to patrolling just Gray.

The first citizen to speak moved to amend the proposed 14% increase down to 5%. Jim Monroe said, "If we are to rein in government spending and get it under control, it should start today, now." His motion was to reduce the budget to raising $3,937,563 and expending $4,647,563. He said that this was still a 5% raise over last year. He had arrived at that number by taking into account the consumer price index, adjustments for population trends, and new programs.

Wilkinson reminded the audience that the budget included many services upon which people had come to rely. She said, "We are giving you these services, and there are many that we didn't have before that are conveniences now."

Mike Salvetti spoke to that comment, reminding the Council in turn that "You are not giving us these services. You are forcing us to buy them whether we want them or not." This comment drew applause.

How much to increase the budget? More citizens' views

Manager Mitchell A. Berkowitz said that "It has been indicated that a 5% increase may be more than adequate to met the community's needs, but there's more to it." He referred to a graph that illustrated that of the total budget only 2.8% was operating expenses. The rest was capital expenses, representing a 63% increase. Left, Manager Mitchell A. Berkowitz

Georgia Humphrey said that "All I want is a middle ground and we can't seem to get there. A 63% increase in capital expenses seems like a lot."

The discussion continued over Monroe's amended budget proposal for the next hour.

Paul Proudian thought that the originally proposed budget was fine. "The operating budget increase of 2.8% over last year is responsible. This budget compares favorably with surrounding municipalities and we do get good value out of this budget. We should spend as needed." His comment also drew applause.

In the end, the amended motion to reduce the increase to 5% passed with 82 people voting yes and 58 voting against. Left, Barbara Humphrey voting at Town Meeting

Council as unpaid volunteers?

The language as written in the warrant regarding the Council's compensation also drew concern. The budget just passed included raising money to compensate the five Councilors for their work over the course of the year.

But the next warrant article also asked voters to raise and appropriate $10,000 for compensation. It looked like the council's salary was to be raised twice, and John Welch moved to amend the article to reflect only appropriating the council salary, since the raising of it already occurred.
Berkowitz said that the language was vetted by the town Attorney and "pursuant to Section 6, Article II of the Town Charter, this must be voted separately on at Town meeting," he said.

Mary Bosse was extremely concerned that the Council should get their compensation. "If this amendment passes, does that mean they would be unpaid volunteers? That would be a disaster. An absolute disaster," she said.

Councilor Jack Goosetrey clarified to Bosse that the Council would be unpaid elected volunteers.

Denise Duda said that it looked like the language needed fixing but that since the language was written to satisfy legal requirements that the Town meeting should look to changing that next year. In the end, Welch withdrew his motion the Council got their compensation as written.

The rest of the meeting

Citizens asked questions of the Council and Manager regarding bridge replacement, capital improvements to buildings and vehicles, and paying off the Post office.

Two years ago, citizens approved purchasing the abandoned Post office next door to town offices. It was originally thought that town office could expand in there. The building has remained empty as the Council has been deliberating about various options for town office expansion.

The originally proposed budget called for a request to pay off the post office loan. The proposal was to take $138,600 from the Undesignated Fund Balance (surplus) and pay off the remaining two years' debt. That was reduced to $66,780 or one year's loan payoff. As Monroe said, "Interest rates are low and paying off a loan with today's low dollars does not make sense."

No increase in Law Enforcement, either

Public Safety Committee member Steve Pelletier explained that the Council and PS Committee had been looking at ways to structure an increased law enforcement presence in Gray for over two years. The result of the research came down to a proposal for contracting with either State Police or Cumberland County Sheriffs for a dedicated patrol in Gray. The one-year cost would be $110,000. There was much discussion, questions, and explanations from Pelletier and Council.

Cal Cutter asked the Council why this article had no statement similar to the rest of the articles, "'The Council recommends a 'yes' vote' appears on all other article. But not this one. Does that mean the Council recommends a 'no' vote?" Cutter asked.

Wilkinson replied that "When you vote you'll see our hands." This drew groans from the audience.

Pelletier explained that "the Public Safety Committee sponsored this and did not want to press for a yes or no, but just put it out to the people."

The people voted no, three for the proposal and the rest, about 100 by that time, voted no.

The meeting adjourned with bonhomie between citizens and handshakes for Moderator True for a job well done. Left, Moderator Dan True

The meeting adjourned at about 1:20 and the citizens poured out onto Stimson's sunny lawn.