by Mary Grow

Money was a main topic at the March 24 China select board meeting in several different ways, from fairly big items (including review of budget committee recommendations related to the June 10 town business meeting warrant and proposed future expenditures) to the price of trash bags for Palermo residents using China’s transfer station.

The latter, Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood reported, will increase from $2.60 to $3.00 for a 33-gallon bag, effective April 1.

The China Budget Committee, meeting March 17 (see the March 20 issue of The Town Line, p. 3), disagreed with the select board on four proposed June 10 expenditures.

The major change was a recommendation to increase town employees’ salaries by 2.5 percent next year, instead of the 3.5 percent select board members had recommended.

At the March 24 meeting, Hapgood read a letter from another town employee advocating for the higher increase and added her comments, and a third employee watching the meeting on line chimed in.

After three-quarters of an hour’s debate and several failed votes on different suggested increases, select board members went with a recommendation for a 3.25 percent increase, on a 4-0-1 vote, with Chairman Wayne Chadwick, Blane Casey, Jeanne Marquis and Thomas Rumpf in favor and Edwin Bailey abstaining.

Hapgood said after the meeting that the pay issue will again be on the budget committee’s agenda at their April 2 meeting. If budget committee members do not agree with the select board, she said, the June 10 town meeting warrant will say the budget committee voted not to recommend all expenditure articles that include employee salaries.

Budget committee members on March 17 further advocated cutting from the list of social service organizations a $500 donation to Northern Light Home Care and Hospice, because of the impending closure of Waterville’s Inland Hospital; adding back in the $500 donation to the American Red Cross that the select board had deleted; and increasing the PFAS fund by $1,000 to cover a new pump that Hapgood said is needed soon.

Select board members agreed with the budget committee on all three items. Votes were unanimous, except that Rumpf dissented on donating to the Red Cross.

Their first monetary discussion of the evening was with China Village Volunteer Fire Department Chief Joel Nelson, who repeated and re-explained his request for a new pumper truck, at an estimated cost of $650,000 or more (see the March 13 issue of The Town Line, p. 3).

Select board members again postponed a decision, asking for more information, on used trucks – Nelson had found there are not many available – and on possible grants. The delay means the request will not be submitted to voters in June; it could be on a November ballot.

After 20 minutes’ debate over the agreement with Rent.Fun that will provide a rental stand for kayaks and paddleboards, Chadwick made a motion to authorize the town manager to sign the agreement – and was the dissenter on a 4-1 vote to do so.

The kiosk, arranged by Recreation Committee chairman Martha Wentworth, will be at the head of China Lake’s east basin, near the causeway east of China Village. Proceeds from the rentals will be shared between Rent.Fun and the town; the contract spells out finances, maintenance and repairs and sundry other details. Chadwick and other board members were concerned about how long it will take the town to earn enough to recoup its initial investment.

Hapgood had shared with board members Sheldon Goodine’s resignation as chairman of the town building committee. The fireproof vault its members planned is about to be built.

Board members debated whether the committee should be considered a one-time vault committee, or an on-going building committee tasked with recommending future changes to town properties. A majority decided it should continue as an advisory body and be asked to develop a five- or 10-year building plan, and rejected Goodine’s resignation.

Bailey was the lone dissenter; he praised Goodine’s leadership, but held the committee’s work was finished.

Other pre-town-meeting topics included review of proposed revisions to the town’s Budget Committee Ordinance, which the select board unanimously endorsed; and Hapgood’s explanation of an article that would repeal China’s June 2017 ordinance titled “Ordinance Prohibiting Retail Marijuana Establishments and Retail Marijuana Social Clubs in the Town of China.”

The marijuana ordinance, she explained, is no longer needed, because the state has taken over; state regulations now protect the town.

The March 24 select board meeting was preceded by the members meeting as the town board of assessors. In that capacity, they rejected a request from the Branch Pond Association, Inc., to be exempted from paying taxes on the Branch Pond dam.

The request said that the dam has been rebuilt, by the Maine Council of the Atlantic Salmon Federation, with a fishway added. It was valued at $30,800 in 2024; it serves no economic purpose and does not generate income; the 2024 tax bill was $360.36.

The Branch Pond Association claimed an exemption on the ground that it is a charitable organization. Assessor William Van Tuinen had reviewed the exemption letter and concluded the organization is not purely charitable, because its charter also calls for benefits to nearby landowners.

Van Tuinen recommended the exemption be denied, and the select board agreed on a 4-1 vote, with Rumpf opposed.

The next regular China select board meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, April 7.

by Mary Grow

Five of China’s seven budget committee members met March 17 to make their recommendations on the select board’s draft 2025-26 budget.

They recommended cuts affecting several accounts, and two increases.

The major change budget committee members want is in town employees’ salaries. Select board members, at their March 10 meeting, accepted Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood’s proposed 3.5 percent cost of living increase (see the March 13 issue of The Town Line, p. 3).

Budget committee members recommended a 2.5 percent pay increase for next year. Michael Sullivan proposed a reduction, saying that with the 3.5 percent increase, employees would have gained 20 percent over four years, double the rate of increase in the previous four years.

Kevin Maroon took up the argument, asking the source of the 3.5 percent cost of living increase, on which the recommended pay was based.

The vote to recommend the lower raises was unanimous.

This change affected all accounts that include employee salaries and benefits. Hapgood proposed the budget committee not act on the draft warrant for the June 10 annual town business meeting until she has time to calculate revised figures.

Select board members will decide at their March 24 meeting whether to accept the budget committee’s recommendations. Voters make the final spending decisions at the town meeting.

Budget committee members also recommended deleting a proposed $500 donation to Northern Light Home Care and Hospice, because with Inland Hospital closing in June, no one knew whether the hospice would continue.

Sullivan’s motion to eliminate funding for China’s broadband committee was defeated, supported by himself and Maroon and opposed by Chairman Brent Chesley, Tim Basham and Taryn Hotham. Sullivan also proposed cutting the 2025-26 recreation committee budget, but did not persist after Chesley pointed out it is already $10,900, or about 25 percent, lower than this year.

One increase the budget committee recommended was in the PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) line in the transfer station account. This money funds state-required PFAS remediation. Hapgood said she had just learned one system needs a new pump, expected to cost about $950.

Budget committee members unanimously recommended an additional $1,000, for a total of $6,400.

Maroon proposed the second recommended addition, to the social services account. He moved to put back the $500 donation to the American Red Cross that the select board deleted, at Thomas Rumpf’s request, on March 10.

Maroon, who is a China Village volunteer fire department member, praised the Red Cross for their prompt help to disaster victims, for example when a family’s home burns. He listed other services, including blood drives and safety and life-saving courses.

Basham and Hotham voted with him to reinstate the $500; Chesley and Sullivan were opposed. Chesley later voted against the entire account, because he thinks residents should make their individual choices of organizations and agencies to support.

Chesley, a former select board member, addressed two recommendations to current board members (three of whom were in the March 17 audience). He advised them to investigate health insurance options to seek a less expensive plan for employees; and he recommended paying employees for unused vacation time at the end of each fiscal year, so funding liability would not accumulate.

After select board members review the budget committee recommendations, the latter group needs to meet again to review the town meeting warrant. That meeting is tentatively scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 2.

The draft warrant Hapgood prepared for the budget committee meeting did not include the China Village volunteer fire department’s request for a new fire truck. Maroon urged adding the article, summarizing the need to replace an old, unreliable vehicle with an efficient new one.

He reminded those present that the department first asked for funds two years ago, when the truck would have cost substantially less than it will now.

by Mary Grow

At their March 10 meeting, China select board members put their draft 2025-26 municipal budget in near-enough final form to forward to the town budget committee. Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood hoped to be able to schedule a budget committee meeting the week of March 17.

Voters will make final 2025-26 spending decisions at the Tuesday, June 10, town business meeting, which will be by written ballot.

One March 10 tweak reduced the proposed budget for donations to out-of-town social service agencies.

Hapgood had already recommended cutting most outside organizations’ requests, lowering the almost $32,000 requested to $25,500. Board member Thomas Rumpf moved to delete $500 for the American Red Cross, based on his experiences with the group.

His motion was approved 3-2, with board chairman Wayne Chadwick, Edwin Bailey and Rumpf in favor and Blane Casey and Jeanne Marquis opposed.

The account includes a recommended $500 (half the requested amount) for the Winslow Community Cupboard, which several people said serves China residents. When Casey asked about the China Food Pantry, Hapgood said that group makes no request for town funds.

The draft budget includes 3.5 percent COLA (cost of living adjustment) raises for town employees. Select board members endorsed the increase on 4-1 vote, with Casey opposed. Casey also voted, alone, against supporting all parts of the budget that include salaries.

Chadwick said he, too, would have opposed the 3.5 percent increase as too generous, until he saw what employers are offering to try to hire summer employees; although, he added, those jobs offer fewer benefits than working for the town.

Before tackling the budget, select board members heard two other issues.

China Village volunteer fire department chief Joel Nelson and assistant chief Ben Loubier requested an article in the June 10 warrant asking voters to appropriate money for a new truck for their department.

They need another tanker, to replace a 1990 one acquired in 2014 with an engine so old that parts are hard to find, they explained. Their application for a federal grant was denied in December.

Nelson had two price quotes for a new truck, which he prefers over a second-hand one so the department can customize it and for the warranty. Casey asked for quotes on a used one, too.

Selectmen postponed a decision for two weeks, expecting more price options.

Hapgood reminded board members the 180-day moratorium on new transmission lines through China that voters approved Nov. 5, 2024, will expire early in May.

The question was put on the ballot by petition, in response to the proposed north-south transmission line from Aroostook County that would have gone near or perhaps through China.

The goal was to give China officials time to write and get voter approval for an ordinance to regulate transmission lines. Nothing has been done.

Select board members decided they need to give China Planning Board members a specific instruction to develop an ordinance, and so voted unanimously. Before the expiration date they plan to exercise their option to renew the moratorium for another 180 days.

The planned line that triggered China’s November 2024 vote and similar actions in other towns has been shelved, but board members believe the idea remains alive, so protective measures are still needed.

The next regular China select board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, March 24.