by Mary Grow

China voters will decide on almost $3.5 million in proposed expenditures at their March 25 town business meeting, scheduled for 9 a.m. at China Middle School on Lakeview Drive.

Of the total, about $1.59 million is to come from real estate and personal property taxes; about $853,000 is requested from the Development Program Fund or TIF fund; more than $262,000 will come from the town’s Unrestricted Fund Balance (UFB), commonly called surplus; and more than $740,000 for the highway budget will come from a state grant and excise taxes.

Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux told selectmen and budget committee members that voters will not increase their tax rate if they approve proposed spending. However, the municipal budget is only part of the total budget; taxes also contribute to the school budget, which voters will act on in June, and the Kennebec County budget.

Not all of the money requested March 25 will necessarily be spent. For example, selectmen are asking permission to spend up to $55,000 from surplus to match grants if the town receives any (Art. 36) and another $55,000 for unexpected expenses and emergencies (Art. 38).

Most of the proposed expenditure requests appear every year – town administration, solid waste disposal, road maintenance, fire, police and rescue services, insurance. As usual, costs for insurance have increased. This year, the transfer station budget is also higher because Palermo residents are using it, but L’Heureux expects Palermo’s annual contribution and per-bag fee will offset the higher costs.

The one new expenditure request is in Art. 20, which asks voters to appropriate up to $40,000 from surplus to compensate emergency services personnel. Conceived by Selectman Neil Farrington as a possible way to gain new members for China Rescue and the town’s three volunteer fire departments, the proposal is supported unanimously by the budget committee.

The March 25 warrant includes six separate requests to spend TIF money, in articles 6 through 11. The money comes from taxes paid by Central Maine Power Company (CMP) on its expanded power line through town. L’Heureux said the revenue is about $260,000 annually, and the TIF fund now stands at about $337,000.

Art. 5 asks voters to amend the current TIF agreement to extend it from 20 to 30 years and add a second revenue source, the new CMP substation off Route 3. L’Heureux expects the substation will add about $60,000 a year to the TIF fund. If voters approve Art. 5, they will also increase the areas of town available for economic development with TIF money. L’Heureux said TIF-eligible areas will include the recently-acquired subdivision off Lakeview Drive opposite the former Candlewood Camps; two previously designated Pine Tree zones, the FairPoint property on Route 3 and the former Gazelle property at the intersection of Routes 202, 9 and 137; and land at the base of Branch Pond.

Expenditures proposed to town meeting voters are as follows:

Art. 6: $8,000 toward the town administration budget for TIF-related work, $38,169 for China’s FirstPark fee, $15,000 for the China Region Lakes Alliance, $2,500 for China Community Days, $500 for Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce dues and $5,000 toward compensation for a bicentennial events coordinator.

Art. 7: Up to $50,000 for engineering and planning work associated with economic development projects selectmen might plan and propose to voters.

Art. 8: Up to $750,000 for three fiscal years (July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2020) for the causeway project at the head of China Lake’s east basin.

Art. 9: Up to $25,000 to establish a revolving loan fund to assist town businesses, managed by the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments.

Art. 10: Up to $20,000 for ARI, the Alewife Restoration Initiative aimed at bringing alewives back to China Lake.

Art. 11: Up to $40,000 for trail and entrance improvements at Thurston Park, the town-owned preserve in northeastern China. China’s TIF committee and budget committee recommend voters approve all the TIF articles

by Mary Grow

The China Tax Increment Finance (TIF) Committee’s public hearing on the largest proposed TIF expenditure on the March 25 town meeting warrant drew close to 20 interested residents Feb. 27.

The issue is the committee’s recommendation that voters appropriate up to $750,000 over the next three fiscal years for improvements to the causeway at the head of China Lake’s east basin. Improvements would be intended to improve environmental conditions, further pedestrian and vehicular traffic safety, improve recreation and promote economic development.

Discussion focused on priorities, in two different ways.

Many audience members wanted to know specifically what the committee intended to do and in what order, so they would know exactly what they were voting on March 25. The project includes improving parking for people using the boat landing, improving the landing itself, rebuilding the 1930 bridge across the inlet to the lake and adding a pedestrian walkway and fishing platforms. The walkway and platforms depend on remaking the shore of the lake by installing some kind of vertical facing instead of the present slope dotted with boulders.

Committee members have already spent some money on engineering to get preliminary ideas and cost estimates. Answering many of the questions raised will require more engineering work; committee Chairman Amber McAllister said the group did not want to be faulted for spending too much money on preliminary work before voters decided whether to approve the project.

If voters approve the money, priority questions still loom. Boat landing parking is likely to happen first, because Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux said the town has almost completed buying the additional land voters approved last November. However, whether the bridge, the pedestrian ways or the fishing areas should come next, or whether all need to be done more or less simultaneously, remains to be decided.

McAllister said if voters approve funding on March 25, the committee will begin setting priorities, with input from residents. When Justin Gaudet interpreted her words as promising more public hearings, McAllister accepted his interpretation.

No one who spoke at the hearing opposed the idea of expanded recreational facilities at the boat landing and causeway.

Gaudet urged committee members to consider possible long-term impacts of the project, like what increased boat traffic could do to water quality and shoreline erosion.

China Lake belongs to the state, not the town, committee member and Selectman Irene Belanger said, so town residents cannot control what happens on it. She added that a major bass tournament, larger than any held so far, is scheduled for this summer.

The TIF Committee is charged with recommending to selectmen economic development projects that can be funded with tax money from the expanded Central Maine Power Company power line that runs through the town. A separate article in the March 25 town meeting warrant asks voters to add the new CMP substation off Route 3 as another TIF revenue source. Voters will also act on other proposed expenditures of TIF funds.

The next TIF Committee meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, March 13. Interested residents are welcome at all committee meetings.