Scarborough voters will have to decide on at least one amendment to the town charter in November, and could face as many as four.
A proposal that the council will put on the ballot would allow the council to borrow as much as $1 million without voter approval, up from the present limit of $400,000. The decision wass expected on all four proposed charter amendments during Wednesday’s council meeting, after the Current’s deadline.
At a workshop on the issue last week, most councilors were in favor of the amendment, but were uncomfortable with increasing the single-item limit to $1 million, an amount based on a percentage of the town’s land valuation.
Council Chairman Jeffrey Messer suggested lowering the total to $650,000, which is 0.02 percent of the town’s property valuation.
Councilor Patrick O’Reilly said if the figure was tied to the town’s land valuation it would become skewed when the town conducted another revaluation. He suggested tying the figure to inflation.
Councilor Sylvia Most felt all of the amendments, proposed by Councilor Shawn Babine, should be first sent to a charter review committee.
“They are major changes in the government in this community and should be vetted in public,” Most said. “People will be voting in three weeks or less and we barely have the time to put this on the ballot. If we are going to do anything as a council we should form a review committee.”
Babine’s second proposal would cap town borrowing at $8 million a year, and would send to referendum any project that would exceed it.
Councilors are mixed on the idea. Town Council Chairman Jeffrey Messer said the council has not bonded more than $6 million a year in the six years he has been on the council, excluding major expenses such as the high school and infrastructure improvements like work on Haigis Parkway.
Many councilors opposed the idea and think it should be studied further before placing it on the ballot.
“We’re a representative form of government, that’s what we’re elected for,” said Councilor Carol Rancourt, who is against the proposal.
Babine said the purpose of the changes is to encourage more resident participation in local government.
“We need better participation by residents in directing us,” he said.
The overall cap on borrowing would ensure that a “careless” council does not approve many different projects below the individual project cap, he said.
“We could have 100, 200, 300 projects just under that amount and bond them,” Babine said.
Councilors are not expected to place Babine’s two other proposed amendments on the ballot this year.
The first would force a referendum vote on budgets that increase the tax levy by more than 3.5 percent. That would leave the council enough room to raise budgets by $2 million per year, excluding increases in state school funding, Babine said.
Most councilors felt the proposal had not been fully explored and there was not enough time between now and November to determine its effects.
“This is being brought forward too quickly without public debate,” Most said.
Councilor Robert Patch agreed and questioned if voting on them in June would make more sense.
Babine also is asking that borrowing infrastructure improvements, such as road and utility projects, fall under the same guidelines as the town’s other bonds. Currently they are excluded from the cap and the council may approve borrowing of any amount for those purposes.
Town Manager Ron Owens said the lack of a cap on these types of projects is to ensure that damaged roads and utilities can be repaired. It also as an economic development tool and can be used to improve land, as was done on the Haigis Parkway.
Babine was satisfied with holding the vote at a later date, but wanted to ensure the issue would not die when they were reviewed by the council’s finance committee.
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