Budget committee agrees with select board on budget items except one

by Mary Grow

Five of the seven China Budget Committee members met March 5 and reviewed the select board’s 2024-25 municipal budget recommendations, agreeing with all but one (see the March 7 issue of The Town Line, p. 3).

The $3,000 issue over which the two boards differ is a donation to The Town Line newspaper, one item in the $77,000 request for community support organizations.

At the March 4 select board meeting, board chairman Wayne Chadwick and member Blane Casey objected to China taxpayers supporting the newspaper when no other town contributes. Brent Chesley added that China provides office space in the basement of the old town house and pays for advertisements (of public hearings, for example).

Joann Austin, a member of the paper’s board of directors, replied that efforts to get contributions from nearby towns have never succeeded. Select board member Jeanne Marquis reminded board members they are required to advertise hearings, and any alternative might be more expensive; and said having the old town house used regularly is a benefit.

Chadwick’s motion to delete the $3,000 was approved on a 3-2 vote, with Casey, Chadwick and Chesley in favor and Marquis and Janet Preston opposed. A revised recommendation of $74,000 for community support organizations went to the budget committee on a 4-1 vote, with Marquis opposed.

The main discussion at the March 5 budget committee meeting was not over whether to support The Town Line, but where funds should come from. Committee chairman Thomas Rumpf advised Austin to apply for TIF (Tax Increment Financing) money.

After consideration of timing and whether to recommend an appropriation only if TIF money was not available, budget committee members voted 4-1 to recommend adding $3,000 for the newspaper back into the community support organizations budget. The majority consisted of Rumpf, Timothy Basham, Elizabeth Curtis and Trishea Story; Michael Sullivan was opposed.

Other items in this account include support for historic buildings and grants to the China Lake Association, China Rescue, the three volunteer fire departments, the two libraries and the Golden Agers group that meets weekly in the former portable classroom behind the town office.

Sullivan also voted against the recommendation of $84,220 for town boards and committee. Votes to approve the rest of the select board’s recommended budget were unanimous except when a budget committee member abstained to avoid a possible conflict of interest.

As of March 5, Hapgood calculated the select board’s recommended 2024-25 municipal budget at a little over $4.8 million, almost $160,000 less than the department requests submitted and over $360,000 more than the comparable figure for the current fiscal year.

The budget committee could not review the 2024-25 Kennebec County tax or the school budget request, because Hapgood had no figure for either.

Before the meeting adjourned, Rumpf pointed out that the town’s Budget Committee Ordinance (adopted in 2006, and referring to the latest known previous version approved in 1947) is out of date.