VASSALBORO NEWS: School budget does not look good for taxpayers

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

State and other non-tax revenues down, expenditures up – the initial proposal for the 2017-18 Vassalboro school budget does not look good for taxpayers.

At the first joint meeting of the school board and budget committee, AOS (Alternative Educational Structure) #92 Superintendent Eric Haley said he expects a slight improvement by the time the two committees meet again April 11; but he will not have final revenue figures until state legislators and the governor approve school funding in June.

Potential reductions in expenditures include a downward revision of the salaries and benefits line to allow for the replacement of two veteran teachers who are retiring in June with less experienced and lower-paid teachers; a reduction in expected tuition costs; and, with luck, a smaller increase in insurance premiums than projected.

The preliminary budget papers school board and budget committee members shared at their March 30 meeting showed an increase in expenditures of more than $196,000 and a decrease in non-tax revenue of almost $329,000. Without changes, the school department would need $525,522 from local property taxes for 2017-18, 16 percent more than in the current fiscal year. School Board Chairman Kevin Levasseur observed that every school district in Maine is taking a similar hit. Perhaps, he said, there will be pressure on the legislature to increase state funding.

Superintendent Haley said one provision in Governor Paul LePage’s school budget plan eliminates state support for superintendent’s offices, to encourage schools to join in regional service centers. AOS #92 is slated to lose its central office support, a loss of more than $100,000, Finance Director Paula Pooler said. Haley said by his definition the office is a service center administering the three separate Vassalboro, Waterville and Winslow school systems, and should not be penalized.

Budget committee members did not go into details of the proposed budget. They met April 3 to develop questions to forward to the school department in advance of the next joint meeting, scheduled for Tuesday evening, April 11.

CHINA NEWS: Planners OK plan for animal feed and grain shop

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

CHINA — Starting their new meeting format, China Planning Board members spent the first half hour of their March 28 meeting discussing relevant results of the March 25 town business meeting before reviewing and approving the only application on their agenda. They unanimously granted James Brown and Decindra Parker a permit to open an animal feed and grain shop plus a flower shop with greenhouses, using the former Mainely Trains building at 360 Route 3 and its grounds.

Town meeting voters approved all but one of the proposed Land Development Code changes that had been rejected as a package in November 2016. They again refused to authorize changing the rules for enlarging non-conforming structures – those that fail to meet one or more ordinance requirements – in the shoreland zone.

Codes Enforcement Officer Paul Mitnik thought voters had two major problems with the proposed changes: they would have allowed enclosure of decks and patios without the work counting as an expansion, even though it could add living space and impervious surface from which water could run toward a lake or other water body; and they did not include any requirement to install vegetative buffers to catch run-off.

Neck Road resident Sheri Wilkens added another problem; the amendments would have allowed shoreland property owners to demolish or remove accessory structures (like sheds) and count the reduction in roof area toward enlargement of a main building. “I don’t feel too bad that it failed. I think we can do better,” Mitnik said. Board members Milton Dudley and Tom Miragliuolo agreed they were not unhappy with the vote.

Dudley suggested the board survey residents about the ordinance and possible changes before seeking another vote on amendments. Chairman James Wilkens agreed, saying the survey would help educate residents about the ordinance.

When board members turned to the application, they were careful to give their reasons for each vote, as required by the town ordinance.

Brown and Parker explained that they intend a three-part project: opening an animal feed and grain store in part of the existing building so farmers and others with animals need not travel so far for supplies; opening a flower shop in another part of the building; and adding at least two non-permanent greenhouses and a hay storage facility on the property.

The additional temporary buildings drew questions from Miragliuolo. The property is in a resource protection district; it is “grandfathered” and can be used and reused, but cannot be made more non-conforming than it already is.

Mitnik said the planning board approved a proposed reuse of the building two years ago that involved additional temporary structures. The April 2015 permit was issued to Frank Kent and Florence Donovan to use the west end of the building for a vegetable, flower and craft shop. The project included seasonal tents.

Brown said the greenhouses will have floors of crushed stone with the stone extending beyond the walls to catch roof run-off.

The application was approved with one limit and two conditions, all of which Brown and Parker accepted. The limit is that the proposed additional temporary structures cannot total more than 2,500 square feet. The conditions are that Brown and Parker designate handicapped parking spaces – they said they plan to, probably one near each entrance – and that all fertilizer be stored inside a building.

Proposed maximum business hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, with Mondays off. Brown and Parker plan to operate year-round and to add Christmas trees seasonally.

The next regular planning board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, April 11.

VASSALBORO NEWS: Budget process begins with committee agreeing on two items

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

VASSALBORO — At the end of their third 2017 meeting, Vassalboro Budget Committee members agreed on two things: they cannot start making recommendations on the 2017-18 municipal budget until after they talk with school officials about the school budget, and they might need more than one other meeting after two joint meetings with the School Board.

The school board is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 30, at the school, to be joined at 7 p.m. by the budget committee. The two boards meet again Tuesday, April 4, probably at 7 p.m. at the school. The budget committee plans to meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 13, at the town office, and if necessary Tuesday, April 18, same time and place.

As in past years, budget committee members have differing views on basic questions, including whether and if so how they should recommend a municipal budget that will not raise property taxes; whether town equipment needed part-time should be rented or bought (referring specifically to the excavator the public works department has been leasing); and whether necessary equipment purchases should be financed by setting aside reserve funds or borrowing money when it’s needed.

After their initial meeting March 9, budget committee members met March 21 with representatives of non-profit and social service agencies and March 23 to consider capital improvements and other issues.

Committee members heard presentations from Nan Bell of the Family Violence Project, which served 23 Vassalboro residents last year; Lucille Murphy of the Waterville area Literacy Volunteers, an agency that has not previously asked for town support; Jim Wood of Kennebec Valley Community Action Program (KVCAP) transportation services; Lee Duff of Friends Advocating for Vassalboro Older Residents (FAVOR), also making its first request; Jim Hart of the China Region Lakes Alliance (CRLA); and new police chief Mark Brown.

Murphy said there has been “an alarming increase in illiteracy in Maine” that Literacy Volunteers aims to combat. She added that the percentage of children not reading proficiently by fourth grade has been found to be an indicator of future need for prisons. Brown nodded agreement.

Wood has been working with Town Manager Mary Sabins to expand transportation services to Vassalboro and perhaps China. Duff said FAVOR’s purpose it to determine how best to organize support for senior citizens, including but not limited to KVCAP transportation.

Hart summarized three major CRLA projects: the courtesy boat inspections that seek to protect China Lake and nearby lakes from invasive plants; the Youth Conservation Corps, which includes the LakeSmart program recognizing landowners who minimize pollution from their properties; and the Alewife Restoration Initiative (ARI) aimed at restoring sea-run alewives to China Lake via the Sebasticook River and Outlet Stream.

Family Violence asked for $4,925 from the town; the selectmen and town manager recommend $2,500. Literacy Volunteers requested $500, not supported by the selectmen. KVCAP asked for $1,350, supported. CRLA asked for $15,000; the selectmen recommend $5,000. FAVOR’s $1,000 request has the selectmen’s endorsement.

Police Chief Brown’s main concern was the proposed new police vehicle, suggested by his predecessor, Richard Phippen (who is a budget committee member). Brown has specifications on a Ford Explorer, with an estimated cost of $35,000 including equipment. Trading in or selling the current vehicle would contribute toward the new one.

Committee Chairman John Melrose raised a broader issue: does Vassalboro need a policeman, or should town residents rely on county and state law enforcement? The 2017-18 request for public safety totals almost $68,000, with almost $14,500 for animal control, $26,476 for dispatching and the rest for the police chief’s salary, benefits, equipment and vehicle maintenance.

At the March 23 meeting Sabins summarized the town’s revenues and answered committee members’ questions about employees’ salaries and benefits. She recommends three percent salary increases next year except for herself; her contract calls for a two percent increase.

VASSALBORO NEWS: Selectmen postpone vote on mowing contracts

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

VASSALBORO — At a short meeting March 23, Vassalboro selectmen reviewed four bids for mowing town cemeteries and postponed action until they review references.

Town Manager Mary Sabins reported that the Maine Municipal Association told her the Vassalboro School Board broke no laws by appointing a new member without advertising the vacancy.

Earlier in March, resident Douglas Phillips asked Sabins to seek a legal opinion. In December 2016 the school board promptly appointed Lori Fowle to the seat from which Elizabeth Mitchell resigned after being elected judge of probate.

Lauchlin Titus, chairman of the board of selectmen, commented that he saw no harm in telling the school board that selectmen “are not happy” with the procedure.

In other Vassalboro news, Town Clerk Cathy Coyne has posted notice that nomination papers are available for June local elections. Positions to be filled are one seat on the Board of Selectmen, three seats on the School Board and two seats on the Sanitary District Board of Trustees. Signed papers are due at the town office by 4 p.m. Monday, May 1, for candidates’ names to appear on the local ballot.

The next regular selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, April 6.

Five-hour town meeting focused on TIF, land development, first responders

/0 Comments/in , /by

Town meeting quorum was met when over 150 residents were present for the beginning of the annual meeting.
Photo courtesy of Dan L’Heureux

by Mary Grow

CHINA — China voters had three major issues to deal with at their annual town business meeting March 25: seven articles about the Tax Increment Finance (TIF) program, 10 articles about Land Development Code amendments and a new proposal to recompense emergency services volunteers.

They approved everything except one of the proposed Land Development Code changes. The meeting lasted five hours, and the by the end only about 50 of the 150 voters assembled early in the meeting were still there.

Voters rearranged the agenda to discuss the Land Development Code articles before the TIF questions. The articles were aimed at bringing China’s local ordinance into conformity with new state standards, with the focus on shoreland uses.

Former codes officer and current China Lake Association President Scott Pierz objected to most of the changes, calling the new proposals less protective of water quality and “a step backward” for China Lake. He repeatedly asked whether the planning board had considered other alternatives, rather than a simple choice between current rules and state rules, and whether there had been an independent legal review of the proposed changes.

Current codes officer Paul Mitnik offered explanations as requested. Sheri Wilkens feared the changes would create more work than Mitnik can handle in his part-time position. Her later amendment to add $20,000 to the town administrative budget for additional codes enforcement was defeated.

Voters rejected one proposed change, on a 31-41 vote with many abstentions. China’s rules will not change for measuring a non-conforming structure (one that fails to meet current requirements) in the shoreland when reviewing an application to enlarge it. After two hours’ discussion of land use, voters returned to the TIF articles, one amending China’s TIF program and six authorizing TIF expenditures. The amendment article needed an amendment: as written, it authorized selectmen to approve credit enhancement agreements anywhere in town, but they should be allowed only in TIF districts.

Meeting moderator Richard Thompson ruled the change permissible, because the document is a resolve, not an ordinance, and voters approved the amended amendment. Selectmen held a special meeting March 27 to make the change before forwarding the revisions to the state for expected approval. The revised TIF program incorporates the new Central Maine Power Company substation off Route 3 as a second revenue service. Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux told voters the original source, the expanded CMP power line, pays about $270,000 annually and the revised estimate for the substation is $80,000 a year.

The longest discussion about TIF expenditures was over the proposed causeway project, aimed at expanding boating and fishing opportunities at the head of China Lake’s east basin. Many details remain to be worked out, because, TIF Committee Chairman Amber McAllister explained, committee members did not want to spend time and money on detailed plans before voters authorized the $750,000 requested over three years.

The proposal to set aside $40,000 from China’s surplus account to compensate fire and rescue personnel for time and service got about 10 minutes’ debate before being approved by a large majority. South China Fire Chief Richard Morse repeated his department’s position that rescue personnel but not firefighters should get stipends; China Village Chief Timothy Theriault repeated his department’s position in favor of the proposal and said he has collected ideas for implementing it from neighboring departments.

Annual municipal expenditures were approved with minimal discussion. Afterward, Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux said roads to be repaved out of the $741,473 highway appropriation include Parmenter Terrace, Bog Road, Hanson Road, part of Parmenter Road and maybe part of Dirigo Road.

Miscellaneous pieces of information from town meeting discussion include:

  • L’Heureux said China got about $15,000 in income from FirstPark this year, in return for almost $38,000 as its assessment for the park. The 2017-18 assessment of slightly over $38,000 will come from the TIF fund, as did the current year’s assessment.
  • The recent decision of Oakland Police Department members to unionize will not affect the contract between China and the five members of that department who are China’s police force.
  • During the current year, L’Heureux said, selectmen used money from their $45,000 contingency fund to improve handicapped access to the former classroom behind the town office so the building could be used for November 2016 voting. The contingency request was increased to $55,000 for next year – and approved – because it has not increased for about 10 years.
  • China has no debt and no plans to incur any, the manager said. Voters applauded. • Transfer Station Committee Chairman Frank Soares said the amendments to two solid waste ordinances that voters approved in no way move toward a pay-per-bag system.
  • L’Heureux said the refund voters authorized accepting from the Penobscot Energy Recovery Company as the town transfers to the new Fiberight facility amounts to more than $17,000, with more refunds likely in 2018.

In addition to making decisions, voters heard short presentations from their state legislators, Sen. Roger Katz and Rep. Timothy Theriault; the Thurston Park II and TIF Committees; and Selectman Irene Belanger on behalf of FirstPark. They recognized China’s volunteer firefighters, rescue personnel, committee members and police force. They applauded the volunteers running China’s LakeSmart program, recipients of the Spirit of America award; Town Clerk Rebecca Hapgood after Belanger announced that the town report Hapgood and the rest of the office staff prepared earned a superior rating from the Maine Municipal Association; and Debbie Dinsmore, in absentia, for the flowers she sent to decorate the meeting room.

New books at Albion library

/0 Comments/in , /by

The following new books are now available at the Albion Public Library:

New books about Benedict Arnold’s capture of Fort Ticonderoga, on Lake Champlain, and his trip up the Kennebec River, to Québec City. Benedict Arnold’s Navy, by James Nelson; Voices from a Wilderness Expedition, by Stephen Darley. Through a Howling Wilderness, by Thomas Desjardin.

Also, Lost Villages of Flagstaff Lake, by Alan Burnell and Kenny Wing; The One-in-a-Million Boy, by Monica Wood; The Secret Wisdom of the Earth, by Christopher Scotton; Mayflower, by Nathanial Philbrick; Statesman: George Mitchell and the Art of the Possible, by Douglas Rooks; and Hey Ranger!, by Jim Burnett.

 

Project Learning Tree workshops at China school

/0 Comments/in , /by

China School’s Forest will be hosting two Project Learning Tree Workshops for adults in April. Each workshop will feature hands-on activities and lesson ideas for kids ages K-8. Both workshops will begin with a short introduction to Project Learning Tree and then we will head out into the forest for interactive sessions with trained facilitators. Lessons are interdisciplinary including connections to children’s literature and language arts activities. If you are an educator (formal or informal), community volunteer, scout leader, naturalist, natural resource professional, land trust member, homeschooling parent or just want to learn some great ways to teach kids about the forest, this workshop is for you. Workshops are rain or shine so come prepared for the weather. Sign up by April 8. Space is limited to 20 participants per workshop, FMI – Contact Anita Smith at 968-2255 or chinaschoolsforest@gmail.com.

Visit them on facebook at China School’s Forest – China, Maine.

Cost is $50 per participant and includes the Project Learning Tree K-8 activity book with 96 lessons, opportunities to network with resource professionals, tour the award-winning China School’s Forest and gain new skills to make nature learning fun.

Location: China Primary School, 763 Lakeview Drive, China, ME 04358.

Workshop 1 – Thursdays, April 13 and 27 (must attend both sessions) from 3 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Workshop 2 – Saturday, April 29 from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Bring a bag lunch and drink.

 

Kennebec Initiative aims to reduce child abuse and neglect in the county

/0 Comments/in /by

The Kennebec Valley Community Action Program (KVCAP) was awarded funding from the Maine Children’s Trust to implement a three-year pilot project charged with preventing child abuse and neglect in Kennebec County. This is the second round of funding for these prevention grants. Grants have also been awarded to the child abuse and neglect councils in Somerset, Franklin, Androscoggin, Penobscot and York counties.

Kennebec County rates in substantiated child abuse and neglect have been on the rise in the last year. Babies under the age of one are by far the age group most affected by child maltreatment in Kennebec County as well as across the state. Identifying risk factors such as substance abuse, domestic violence, and poor mental health is vital in order to develop responsive prevention strategies that support families throughout the entire county.

In partnership between DHHS and the Maine Children’s Trust, KVCAP will lead the Kennebec Initiative. A local community group will be established and will include key community stakeholders and people who work with children and families throughout the county. This group will focus on identifying gaps in programs and supports for families and select relevant evidence-based prevention strategies. Members will engage in a strategic planning process that will ultimately help coordinate and enhance child abuse and neglect prevention services in this region.

For more information about the Kennebec Initiative, please contact Lanelle Freeman at 207-859-1577 or lanellef@kvcap.org.

 

CHINA NEWS: TIF meeting brings explanation of changes

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

The March 20 public hearing on proposed amendments to China’s TIF (Tax Increment Financing) document brought both explanations of the changes and a more nuanced view of the whole TIF process.

Voters at the March 25 town meeting, scheduled for 9 a.m. at China Middle School, will accept or reject the proposed amendment, a three-page document with an addition and a map, when they act on Art. 5 in the 56-article warrant.

Assessor William Van Tuinen said four changes are proposed.

1) China’s TIF, initially created in 2015, would be extended from 20 years to 30 years.
2) The new Central Maine Power Company substation off Route 3 would become an additional revenue source. Taxes from the expanded CMP power line, the original TIF revenue source, bring in about $260,000 a year, according to Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux. He estimated earlier this month the substation would add about $60,000 annually.
3) Additional areas in town would be available for economic development, as shown on the map. They include an area on Route 3 around the former Fairpoint building; a small parcel on the northwest corner of the intersection of Routes 202, 9 and 137 north of China Village; the newly acquired town land on Lakeview Drive opposite the former Candlewood Camps; and an area around Branch Mills dam.
4) Selectmen would be authorized to enter into credit enhancement agreements, under which an entrepreneur is encouraged to open or expand a business in a TIF area by promising a partial or full rebate of the additional taxes generated by the project. Van Tuinen emphasized that such partial tax relief is not an entitlement; selectmen decide when it would be in the town’s interest.

The point of a TIF, Van Tuinen said, is to shelter the additional property valuation created by new development, making it not count toward the state’s valuation of the town. The advantage is that the higher a town’s valuation in the state’s eyes, the more it contributes to county taxes and the less it receives in state aid to schools and state revenue sharing.

Were China not to have a TIF, for the first two years the entire taxable value of a new development would go into the tax base, perhaps lowering taxes for everyone. However, when the state caught up with the new value in two years, higher county taxes and lower state aid would offset 65 to 70 percent of the gain.

South China resident Richard Morse argued that having the full value of the new taxes for two years and up to 35 percent afterward was useful, and China should not have a TIF. He called the program “a confusing bureaucratic mess that nobody can understand very well,” a characterization with which L’Heureux sympathized.

However, the manager said, the program is competitive. If other towns have TIFs and China does not, China’s valuation, in the state’s eyes, rises in comparison to theirs, and China pays more and gets less. For example, he said, Augusta has $149 million in valuation protected under the TIF program, shifting a larger share of the county tax burden to the other Kennebec County municipalities.

“If you don’t play the game, you’re on the losing end,” the manager concluded.

Morse, unconvinced, said he thinks lower taxes are more important than the projects on which voters will decide whether to spend TIF money, citing specifically the TIF Committee’s planned fishing platforms and other improvements near the boat landing at the head of China Lake’s east basin.

Articles 6 through 11 in the town meeting warrant ask voters to approve proposed expenditures from China’s TIF funds.

CHINA NEWS: Chief scolds selectmen on proposed stipend article

/0 Comments/in , /by
by Mary Grow

China selectmen met with representatives of the town’s three fire departments and China Rescue March 20 to discuss the emergency services stipends proposed in the March 25 town meeting warrant – an action South China Fire Chief Richard Morse told them they should have taken weeks earlier. Art. 20 in the town meeting warrant asks voters to appropriate up to $40,000 from the town’s Unrestricted Fund Balance (surplus) to compensate emergency services personnel according to a policy to be developed by the selectmen.

Morse said the first time he heard about the proposed stipends was when a reporter called to ask his opinion. He said making the idea public with no advance notice to the department chiefs, no plan, no basis for the amount of money proposed and no evidence of need was “not a way to move a policy forward.”

Stipends, he believes, will not help increase membership in the fire departments or China Rescue. People join from a sense of pride, a desire to be part of a well-run organization and interest in community service. They are discouraged not by money issues but by too much state-mandated paperwork and training, not all of it relevant to part-time volunteer groups.

Despite his reservations, Morse said, he held a vote: his department members do not support stipends for town firefighters, but they do for China Rescue members, who get many more calls.

Morse recommended discussion among selectmen and emergency services people and development of a plan for sharing funds before a town meeting vote.

China Village Fire Chief Timothy Theriault was more inclined to go ahead now. His department members all voted in favor of stipends except himself, he said. To support them, he researched other towns’ plans for distributing funds and came up with a preliminary plan to discuss with his China colleagues.

“We have something to work on,” he said in answer to the claim that there is no plan for spending the funds if they’re approved. Theriault cited two examples from his experience which made it clear to him that earning money is one of the incentives that lead firefighters to remain active.

He sees the stipends, if voters approve, as an experiment; if after a trial he does not have more department members or higher turnout at fires, he will oppose continuing the program. Taking this year’s money from surplus instead of from taxes is consistent with the idea of an experiment, he said.

David Herard, speaking for China Rescue, said rescue members believe money might help keep members, but is unlikely to help with recruiting new ones.

Weeks Mills Fire Chief Webb Shaw was unable to attend the March 20 meeting, but Herard said the majority of that department favor stipends.

Theriault and Morse both said they repeatedly invited selectmen to meet with emergency services people to better understand the services’ needs and were repeatedly turned down, usually on the ground that selectmen’s meetings must be public. Perhaps, they suggested, one or two selectmen could be appointed a subcommittee.

Board Chairman Neil Farrington eloquently praised emergency responders who serve the community. Art. 20, he said, lets departments decide how to divide up stipend money, and doesn’t require everyone to accept it. Since the appropriation, if approved, won’t be available until July 1, there is time to develop plans.

“Let’s give it a chance,” he urged.