WISCASSET

Voters have said no to these budget items before.

On Tuesday, both the town and Regional School Unit 12 will try again, as they go to the polls at the Wiscasset Community Center.

Residents will decide on four municipal budget lines that failed at the June 11 annual town meeting, in addition to an RSU 12 budget that failed on June 29.

The Board of Selectmen favors the requested $75,968 for planning and $74,719 for the position of assessment/human resources.

The Budget Committee says no to both, as well as to a new highway truck and what is calls an unexplained increase in the cost for a sewer pump.

The Board of Selectmen has made few changes to the budget items that failed in June. The Budget Committee has continued to oppose the planning and assessing department’s budgets, but supports the revised transfer station budget after opposing the June offer.

In terms of immediate impact, however, Article 2 on the town warrant might be the most important. The Budget Committee, in a 6-1 vote, opposes appropriating 3/12 of any department budget line that fails, so that department can be funded for three more months.

“The three-twelfths is critical,” said Ed Polewarczyk, chairman of the Board of Selectmen. “If it does not pass and the department budgets do not pass, we would give those two people layoff notices.”

Misty Parker is the town planner, and Sue Varney does assessing, human resources and other town office functions.

According to the Budget Committee, the town’s “present economic climate” does not justify a full-time planner. In addition, the committee says, the $75,868 budget line is the exact amount voted down by 60 per cent of the voters in June.

Robert Blagden, chairman of the Budget Committee, said that June’s no votes constituted a “mandate,” and that the town, in turn, was obligated to return a leaner budget.

“The selectmen ran those articles and the people voted no in a straight-up ballot,” Blagden said. “I’m really disappointed that the Board of Selectmen didn’t come up with something that was significantly less. I think that’s really just demeaning. The selectmen don’t like the way people voted, so they’re going to make them vote again.”

Polewarczyk begs to disagree. He started with the town’s need for a full-time planner.

“It’s a must,” he said. “The planner is instrumental in helping businesses come to town and helping people with various projects.”

Polewarczyk added that Parker is an important asset to the town in its efforts to gain a settlement in its financial case against the failed Mason Station development project. Earlier this year, Mason Station’s silence on the town’s lawsuit seeking more than $800,000 in back taxes resulted in a default judgment in the town’s favor.

The Budget Committee, in a unanimous vote, objects to the $74,719 budget for assessment/human resources — again, the same amount defeated by voters in June — and its 17.54 per cent raise for Varney.

Polewarczyk vouchES for both the position and for Varney.
“The town began to shrink functions a few years back and feel the pinch with costs,” he said, “so HR needed to keep records and do compliance work. Sue Varney stepped up to do that, and help with town clerk duties.
“Over the last five or six years, she’s taken on more and more and more responsibilities, and there’s been no compensation at all. Part of the increase is righting a wrong that’s been going on for too long.”

Polewarczyk said he hopes for a better voter turnout on Tuesday than the 14 percent of voters who went to the polls in June.

“That’s a concern,” he said. “There are signs around town urging people to vote early.”

In a separate ballot Tuesday, voters in Wiscasset and other RSU 12 towns will consider a leaner 2013-14 plan than the $26.5 million package voters defeated in June.

The school board’s new budget is $26.4 million and also incorporates additional state subsidy to reduce the cost to local taxpayers. It is $445,000 less the failed offer.

The total tab to the district’s towns would be 4.56 percent higher than last year.