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 7th 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.
