FREEPORT
A $9.8 million fiscal year 2014 municipal operating budget won Town Council approval Tuesday.
The plan is estimated to increase property taxes 3.9 percent. The figure will be finalized when legislators in Augusta resolve their differences regarding the percentage of revenue sharing and education funding.
Also yet to be decided is the town’s share of Regional School Unit 5’s proposed $27 million schools budget, as well as the proposed $17 million expansion and renovation to Freeport High School. Those costs are to be decided when local referenda and school budget validations go before voters June 11.
Polls that day will open at 7 a.m. at the high school on 30 Holbrook Street.
Although the operating budget passed without opposition, the vote to get there “was a bit complicated,” according to council Chairman Jim Hendricks.
Councilor Melanie Sachs recently accepted the job of executive director at Freeport Community Services, which meant that she recused herself from voting on items related to her new post.
The capital budget portion was accepted 6-1, with only Councilor Andy Wellen in opposition.
Councilors Tuesday also accepted the resignation of shellfish committee member Joe Frazer.
The town is considering installation of a solar collection array atop the Public Works building on Hunter Road, to offset some of the town’s electricity costs. However, whether the panels could be placed in a more appropriate location — such as the Public Safety building, which uses far more power than the Public Works silo — and how the town should pay for them remains to be discussed.
Town Planner Donna Larson and Peter Joseph, the town manager, said they would “workshop” with Portland-based ReVision Energy, the solar panel supplier, and return to the council with more information.
South Freeport contractor Falls Point Marine was awarded the bid to replace ancient and rickety wooden stairs at Sandy Beach, off Cushing Briggs Road, with aluminum treads.
The $38,000 contract will be paid for largely with state grant money; the town’s share is $4,999.
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