FREEPORT – A public hearing on the proposed 2015 municipal budget is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 3, at the Town Hall.
The $8,926,159 proposal under consideration by the Town Council, while actually $52,000 less than this year, could mean a $135 tax increase to the owner of an average home in Freeport, which is $221,000. Town Manager Peter Joseph said that increases in Regional School Unit 5 and Cumberland County costs, coupled with decreased revenues, are the reason.
The council is scheduled to adopt new municipal, capital and tax-increment financing budgets on June 17. Councilors will consider a $2.7 million capital budget that is far greater than the $945,100 spent this year. The plan includes the rebuilding of a stretch of Wardtown Road, two new ambulances and an upgrade to the storm water runoff system.
Joseph said that the Town Council will begin its regular meeting once the public hearing is completed.
“We usually figure half an hour, but it’s open-ended,” Joseph said. “It will go on as long as people want.”
Joseph said he expects discussion on a $90,000 request for the town to finance a shellfish coordinator. The request from the town’s Shellfish Conservation Commission would fund a position that would help protect the habitat, especially clams, from the green crab predators. The commission had considered for months a regional approach to the new post, but decided last month to seek a town position, figuring that that would be a quicker route.
The council would need to add that money, or perhaps a lesser amount, to the budget figure, Joseph said.
“They would have to vote to add that money to the budget, which has been requested,” he said.
Joseph said that the council has made few substantive changes to the spending plan. Councilors could make amendments on June 3, and could make amendments prior to settling on a final figure on June 17, he said.
The town is conducting new property valuations this year, for the first time since 2010. Following that revaluation, average taxes went from $2,824 to $3,356, according to a chart provided by the town.
A proposed 1.8 percent hike in salaries, amounting to $65,000, constitutes the single largest increase in the municipal budget.
“That’s based on a survey on comparable communities,” Joseph said earlier. “This is a maintenance budget. There are not a lot of changes. We don’t have a lot of new services.”
The budget plan reflects a $102,000 reduction in the cost of sending solid waste to ecomaine in Portland, which is owned by member communities. The decrease reflects a reduction in ecomaine’s debt service.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
