the236diner.com

At the June 7th South Berwick Town Meeting, citizens offered nearly unanimous support for the warrant articles as presented… expenditures and revenues… until the last article which authorized the LD1 override. The opposition to the LD1 override was fueled by a flier handed out by private citizens, whose unverified figures were, after the meeting, explained to be based on a level funded budget with NO increases over the past year- not realistic whether you’re overseeing your household, business or the town government- consider fuel prices alone.

The purpose of Town Meeting is for the Town Council to present an annual budget to the citizens for their approval or disapproval. It comes with a responsibility to also voice where, when proposed, cuts should be delivered. Not only was that not forth coming, but the opportunity to do that was taken from the citizenry by two motions to end discussion. Though the majority of those present, (only 2% of the registered voters) voted to end discussion, there were at least 20 hands raised for those who wished to speak but did not receive that opportunity from their fellow citizens. These citizens were disenfranchised of their right to voice their opinion, to participate in the debate, which is the foundation of town meeting. Town meeting should not be a venue for power plays. All citizens have a responsibility to attend and vote on the budget that will ultimately determine their town tax rate.

The budget as presented by the Town Council accurately reflected true costs of public services. It included;
–Maintaining the current level of services for police patrols, crossing guards and dispatch;
–Maintaining the current level of town hall services and hours of operations;
– Maintaining the current level of community center, recreational and library programs which  leverage volunteer service hours and user fees;
–Maintaining the current level of transfer station hours;
–The new expenses of the library bond approved in the November referendum and the  -infrastructure bond passed at last year’s town meeting $199,922;
–And a road infrastructure program which begins to address the crumbling roads in town.

The resulting expense increase of $ 529,912 followed three years of budgeted expenditures which increased a total of only .4% (virtually level funded). The rate of Inflation through this same period was 5.15%. These budgets included cuts to town staff, reductions in employee benefits and foregoing of raises.

The result of Town Meeting is a budget, presented to the public for their review and vote. It is now the citizen’s budget which could see major budget cuts, as much as $425,000 (8% across all departments). A respondent at town meeting offered that it is the responsibility of the town council to make these cuts. That statement defeats the purpose of town meeting where citizen priorities could be clearly established for the town council to implement. The Council has chosen to present another opportunity to the citizens to weigh in. The council will present three warrant articles; One allows for an increase in the revenues by using $100,000 from the Town’s undesignated fund. One allows for the LD 1 override to cover the expenses of the library bond approved previously and the last to override the LD1 limit by the additional costs associated with town government including increases to solid waste tipping fees, road salt and fuel. The Town Council would encourage all those who call South Berwick their home to attend the July 19th Town Meeting and exercise their responsibilities to determine, during the LD1 override discussions, which services they will fund and which they will cut.

David Burke, South Berwick Town Council Chair
Jean Demetracopoulos, South Berwick Town Council

At the Town Meeting held on June 7, attended by 2 % of registered voters, twenty one of the twenty two warrant articles passed with very little discussion. The final warrant article, Article 22, asked voters to increase the property tax levy limit of $3,000,599 established for South Berwick by state law (LD 1) to account for the budget approved by the passage of the preceding warrant articles.  The article failed by a margin of 9 votes.

The Town Council  is bringing the following warrant articles to the voters on July 12 and July 19.  The Town Manager has released a document that answers questions about what happened at the June 7 meeting and why these additional special meetings are scheduled.

Town Manager’s Document: Budget Questions

Special Town Meetings:

Tuesday, July 12,  at 6:30 PM
Authorization for overruns related to winter, general assistance, etc.

Voters will consider the following warrant articles:

ARTICLE 2. To see what sum the Town will vote to appropriate and expend from the Undesignated General Fund Balance to cover the unexpected overdraft in the Highway budget for 2010/11.  TOWN COUNCIL RECOMMENDS: $80,000 from Undesignated General Fund.
ARTICLE 3. To see what sum the Town will vote to appropriate and expend from the Undesignated General Fund Balance to cover the unexpected overdraft in the Transfer Station budget for 2010/11.  TOWN COUNCIL RECOMMENDS: $13,000 from Undesignated General Fund.

Tuesday July 19 at 6:30 pm

At this meeting the voters are asked to rescind the revenues as voted on June 7^th and approve a new proposal to include an additional $100,000 transfer from the Undesignated Fund.  The next article will authorize the LD1 Overrun for the amount of the Bond Payment approved for Library Construction.  The third article will authorize the remaining LD1 override.  The articles are as follows:

ARTICLE 2. To see if the Town will vote to rescind Article 21 approved at the Town Meeting on June 7, 2011 and instead, vote to apply from Excise Taxes, Non—Tax General Fund Revenues, Revenue Sharing, BETE Reimbursement, Homestead Exemption Reimbursement and Undesignated Fund transfer to use toward the 2011/2012 Budget Appropriations approved at the Town meeting on June 7, 2011 via Articles 8 through 20, inclusive, thereby decreasing the amount to be raised by taxation.
TOWN COUNCIL RECOMMENDS THE FOLLOWING APPLICATIONS:
Excise Taxes $1,000,000
Non—Tax General Fund Revenues 662,042
State Revenue Sharing 375,000
Homestead Exemption Reimbursement 125,000
PETE Reimbursement 12,000
Undesignated Fund Transfer 100,000
Total $2,274,042

ARTICLE 3. To see if the Town will vote to increase the property tax levy limit of $3,000,599 established for the Town of South Berwick by State law for the 2011/2012 Municipal budget approved on June 7, 2011 via Articles 8 through 20, inclusive, to accommodate the payment for the $1.5 million dollar Library Construction bond approved via referendum vote on November 2, 2010.  TOWN COUNCIL RECOMMENDS: Adoption

ARTICLE 4. The Town Manager has released a document that outlines the LD 1 property tax levy limit and explains the predicted impact of passage of the above articles on property taxes.

Town Manager’s Document: LD1 Fact Sheet