WATERBORO — Voters in Waterboro will act on the municipal spending plan for the coming fiscal year and elect two selectmen from a field of three candidates on Tuesday.
They’ll also cast validation ballots on the RSU 57 budget approved at a district-wide meeting in May.
Voting is at Waterboro Town Hall, 24 Townhouse Road, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
While election of municipal officers has always been by secret ballot, this is the second year voters will cast referendum ballots on the municipal budget. Waterboro’s last conventional, open Town Meeting was in June 2017.
The proposed municipal budget is about $6.68 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1, up about 3.3 percent from the current year, estimated Town Administrator Gary Lamb. According to information sent to householders from the municipality, non-tax revenues are estimated to be about $3.9 million, leaving about $2.7 million to be raised by property taxes.
Lamb noted that the town’s longtime trash hauling contractor, D and E Rubbish Removal, is closing, and recent bids to haul the town’s trash containers doubled from $77,000 to $150,000 annually. The town proposes to purchase its own truck to transport trash to Ecomaine and other vendors.
“We will have to staff and maintain the truck, but we will not have to pay $150,000 annually to a trucking company,” Lamb pointed out. By Waterboro having its own trash truck will mean the town will be able to change containers during busy weekend hours, if need be, he said.
If approved, the town would bond a total of $215,000 for the trash hauling truck and a new, quarter-ton crew cab 4 x 4 for Waterboro Fire Department. Both selectmen and the town’s budget committee have recommended a “yes” vote.
Cost- of-living raises for employees are proposed at 2.5 percent, Lamb said. As well, since the Board of Selectmen has indicated it would like Town Hall to be open five days a week, the salary of the Town Clerk is to be increased by payment for eight additional hours. Other Town Hall employees prefer to work the current four-day per week schedule, but Lamb said they’ve said they’ll be flexible for vacation schedules.
The town proposes to a hire a full-time person in the Public Works Department — apparently there was no interest in the currently funded 30-hour position, Selectmen Dennis Abbott said at a budget public hearing.
As well, a part-time, 25-hour administrative assistant position in the Parks and Recreation Department is proposed as full-time, he said.
The budget also calls for an additional week of summer camp, and replacement of some equipment and the purchase of a defibrillator for the Town Hall.
The capital plan calls for purchase of a skid steer snowblower for sidewalks, the fire station and Town Hall, 10 protective vests for fire department and EMS staff to wear on domestic cases, a digital sign for event messages, major work on Starr Hill Road and the beginning of a project to replace sidewalks in South Waterboro.
Voters will also be asked if they wish to transfer $25,000 in a years-old existing account originally set up for the fire station in North Waterboro, which no longer exists, to the Community Center Committee. The funds would be used to pay for preliminary architectural drawings for citizens to consider at a later date, said Lamb.The Selectmen’s Board recommends a “yes” vote.
Voters will also cast validation votes on the budget for RSU 57 for the coming year.
The proposed budget of $44 million budget, of which $26 million is to be raised in the six towns that make up RSU 57. Waterboro, the largest of the six, is poised. to contribute $9 million, up $442,346, or 5.17 percent from the current year.
In town elections, voters will choose from a field of three candidates for two seats on the Board of Selectmen. In the running are incumbents Dennis Abbott and Tim Neill, a nd Rep. Dwayne Prescott, a Republican member of the Maine House of Representatives. The two top voter-getters will be elected.
RSU 57 School Board Director Brenda Dyer is uncontested in her bid for another three-year term, while Elizabeth Keith is unopposed for a one-year term on the School Board.
As well, Craig Richardson and Matthew Sampson are both in the running for Waterboro Water District trustee, and will attempt to unseat incumbent Robert Gobeil.
— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 780-9016 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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