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
