Vassalboro group announces scholarship recipients

Ally Clark Bonsant, Madison Grass and Kassidy Richards.

Left to right: Ally Clark Bonsant, Madison Grass and Kassidy Richards.

The Vassalboro Business Association has announced three Vassalboro residents have each been awarded $500 scholarships by the association. This scholarship particularly honors community service.

Ally Clark Bonsant, daughter of Kelly Clark and Tim Bonsant, has attended Erskine Academy all four years of her high school career. After graduation, she will be attending the University of Maine with a major in nursing. She enjoys playing basketball and throwing for her track and field team. She has participated with Youth in Government, as well as being the co-president of Erskine’s National Honor Society. She has remained on honor roll every trimester. In her spare time, she enjoys working with watercolor and clay. She has contributed over 230 volunteer hours to her community, in addition to help build a house for a needy family in Costa Rica.

Madison Grass is the daughter of Nicholas and Julee Grass, of Vassalboro. She attends Erskine Academy and has been a dance student and competitive dancer for Stage Presence for Dancers, in Winslow. Maddie will be attending Dean College in the fall as a dance major at the Palladino School of Dance. She has volunteered hundreds of hours over the last two years to the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter, Stage Presence for Dancers, MaineGeneral Medical Center and Camp Androscoggin.

Kassidy Richards will be graduating from Waterville High School in June of this year. Over the summer she plans to work part time and hopefully pick up some volunteering hours as well. In the fall she will be attending St. Thomas University, in Fredericton, New Brunswick, to work towards a bachelors degree in psychology. She also plans to volunteer at a local animal shelter to keep in contact with pets which really help her relieve stress. She is excited to start this new chapter in her life. Kassidy volunteered her time with special education adults, and helped sponsor a birthday party for a special girl, as well as working in the kitchen at the Muskie Center, in Waterville.

Speech contest winners

Local students from RSU #12 recently gained the opportunity to demonstrate their public speaking skills and take pride in personal accomplishments. On April 25, the students took part in a speech contest sponsored by Modern Woodmen of America, a fraternal financial services organization. The winners were Tyler Ormonde, first place; Jenna Perkins, second; Moira MacDowell, third. Gold award pins were also given to Chiara Mahoney, Jack Begin, Ashlan Peacock, Addison Peacock, Lily Bray, Jessica Giguere, Alexis Rideout, Damon Wilson and Andrea Richardson. Contritued photo

Vassalboro JMG students at Statehouse

Students from the Vassalboro Community School were visiting the Statehouse as Pages of the Day on the same day the Senate had given all of JMG a proclamation for their work in community service throughout the state. Front, from left to right, Malaki Baker, Dominic Goodrich and Alexander Hoffman. Back, Mrs. Horan, Mrs. Gram, Cameron LaFavor, Aidan Fleck, Hunter Gunning, Lexi Allen, Jada Pelkey, Mr. Craig Larrabee (JMG president), Kazlynn Davidson, Camille Chabre, Ms. Bvosseau, and Victor Esposito. Contributed photo

Vassalboro News: Finally, agreement on school budget

by Mary Grow

After a series of serious and occasionally contentious meetings, Vassalboro Budget Committee members, school board members and selectmen have agreed on budget recommendations to voters at the June 5 town meeting.

The total budget they support, if it remains unchanged, would increase the local property tax rate by 0.88 mils (88 cents for each $1,000 of valuation), a result that does not please most of the officials involved – and that they expect will not stand.

The two factors that encourage them to predict the actual result will be easier on taxpayers are:

  • The estimated amount of state subsidy for the school department is about $3.644 million, a decrease of more than $249,000 from the current year, based on figures and a state education plan proposed by Governor Paul LePage. Vassalboro officials expect the legislature to amend the figures to the town’s advantage, but they do not anticipate a final figure until after town meeting.
  • Town Manager Mary Sabins’ estimated property valuation is likely to increase when assessor Ellery Bane finishes his review. A higher valuation spreads the tax burden over more property, lowering the tax rate.

The total municipal budget endorsed by the selectmen and budget committee is $60,450 above the current year’s budget, including a three percent pay increase for town employees (except Sabins, who by contract gets two percent). Because income from sources other than taxation is expected to increase, the municipal budget alone would lower the tax rate slightly.

The town’s required contribution to the Kennebec County budget has gone up a grand total of $258, making an almost invisible 0.08 percent impact on taxation.

Even the school budget has increased very little, less than $10,000 in an almost $7.4 million total. The outsize impact on local taxes – a request for $338,681 – comes because revenues other than taxation have declined, especially the state subsidy.

Voters will make final 2017-18 spending decisions at their annual town meeting, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 5, at Vassalboro Community School. The meeting will continue Tuesday, June 13, at the town office, with polls open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for voters to ratify or reject the school budget approved June 5 and elect local officials.

Vassalboro News: Selectmen sign final warrant for June town meeting

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro selectmen signed the final warrant for the June 5 and 13 town meeting at their May 4 meeting, after public hearings on two ordinances that are included and a final discussion of school funding.

The ordinances, in Articles 24 and 25 of the 68-article warrant, are titled “Town of Vassalboro Shoreland Zoning Ordinance as revised November 2016” and “Vassalboro Sanitary District Charter, as revised March 2017.” Copies of both are available at the town office and on the town web site.

Planning board members and sanitary district trustees attended the hearings to answer audience questions. There were none about the sanitary district charter; several people were interested in the revised shoreland ordinance. Planning Board Chairman Virginia Brackett told them:

  • The revisions presented June 5 are the same ones that voters rejected in November. She said without exit polling, she did not know why voters did not approve the changes. Selectman Lauchlin Titus surmised that voters did not understand the changes and therefore voted against them.
  • The major change is from volume to floor area or impervious surface as the standard for deciding how much a building in the shoreland can be expanded. The change means, for example, that basements can now be allowed, as they do not change the area of impervious surface. Brackett and others think voter approval of the changes would increase expansions of camps and houses within 250 feet of lakes.
  • The revised ordinance transfer authority over timber harvesting in the shoreland zone from the town to the state, a change Brackett expects would provide more expert regulation.

A two-page handout summarizing changes from the current to the proposed ordinance is also available at the town office and on the web site.

Selectmen commended planning board members for their hard work on the ordinance revisions.

The one issue remaining in the town meeting warrant presented May 4 was a wording question in the article added to deal with possible additional state school funding, beyond what the school board currently expects.

Over a series of meetings, school board and budget committee members and selectmen have predicted the legislature will provide more than the $3.644 million in the current list of school revenues. That figure is more than $249,000 lower than the current year’s subsidy.

However, no one knows what the final figure will be, and legislative action is not expected until after Vassalboro’s town meeting.

To deal with anticipated post-town-meeting changes in the state education subsidy, school officials proposed an article at the end of the school budget asking voters to authorize giving part of any additional state revenue to the town to make up for the amount required from property taxes, $338,681 in the budget as it now stands. Initially, the school board approved that wording, while selectmen endorsed an article that would have given the town all unanticipated state revenue.

At the May 4 meeting, School Board Chairman Kevin Levasseur asked indignantly if town officials expected a million dollars if the state should somehow provide that much. Selectmen agreed on an article saying the town will receive up to $338,681 in additional state revenue, if it materializes; should the state subsidy increase even more than that, the rest would go to the school budget.

In other business May 4, selectmen again discussed the request to designate a handicapped parking place in front of Hairbuilders on Oak Grove Road. Town Manager Mary Sabins said a representative of Lucas Striping told Road Commissioner Eugene Field that marking the area would cost about $100, and that it needed a 16-foot-wide area. Selectmen advised asking Field to measure to see if that much space is available without running into the road or onto the sidewalk.

Sabins and Selectman Philip Haines reported briefly on a meeting they attended at which a preliminary plan for a fishway at the China Lake Outlet Dam was displayed.

The next regular Vassalboro selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, May 18.

Vassalboro school board to hold special budget meeting

by Mary Grow

The Vassalboro School Board holds a special meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, May 1, at Vassalboro Community School to put the 2017-18 budget request in final form. The Budget Committee is scheduled to review the proposed school budget and municipal policies at a meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 2, in the town office meeting room. Both meetings are open to the public.

Vassalboro News: Public hearing set for two articles

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro selectmen scheduled public hearings for 7 p.m. Thursday, May 4, on two of the currently 68 articles on the June 5 town meeting warrant.

  • Art. 24 asks voters if they will approve amendments to the town’s Shoreland Zoning Ordinance. Voters rejected the changes in November 2016 on a written ballot by a little over 200 votes, 981 in favor to 1186 opposed.
  • Art. 25 asks if voters will approve a revised Sanitary District Charter.

Copies of both documents are available at the town office and on the Town of Vassalboro web site.

Selectmen reviewed a draft of the town meeting warrant at their April 20 meeting. The warrant is still incomplete, because the budget committee has not finished its review; a budget committee meeting was scheduled for Tuesday evening, April 25. Selectmen agreed with appropriations recommended by the budget committee earlier in April, including changing some of their previously-recommended amounts and deleting the article that would have asked voters to buy a police vehicle.

They are scheduled to sign the final warrant on May 4, during the selectmen’s meeting that follows the public hearings.

The deadline for submitting signed nomination papers for elective positions on the board of selectmen, school board and sanitary district board of trustees is 4 p.m. Monday, May 1, for candidates’ names to appear on the June 13 ballot.
The June 5 open town meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. at Vassalboro Community School. June 13 written-ballot voting will be from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the town office.

In other business April 20, selectmen discussed requesting a state-approved handicapped parking space in front of Hairbuilders on Oak Grove Road with owner Beth Morse, Public Works Director Eugene Field, Police Chief Mark Brown and David Allen of the Maine Department of Transportation.

Morse explained that drivers ignore her unofficial sign, making access difficult for her customers who use wheelchairs, walkers or canes. Selectmen wondered how many other town businesses might need handicapped spaces on public ways, how much additional street painting would cost and how the restriction could be enforced. They plan to get more information and return to the topic at one of their May meetings.

Selectmen signed a proclamation designating May 7 through 13 as Municipal Clerks’ Week. According to the International Institute of Municipal Clerks’ web site, the week “will feature a week-long series of activities aimed at increasing the public’s awareness of municipal clerks and the vital services they provide for local government and the community.” Town Manager Mary Sabins said Vassalboro town office staff will “continue to provide service to the public as we have always done,” with no special events planned.

Vassalboro News: Budget workers frustrated over state’s lack of action

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Budget Committee and School Board members trying to work on the 2017-18 school budget are frustrated by the state legislature’s annual inability to decide on state funding.

Additionally, some budget committee members are frustrated by school board members who, they say, made minimal budget reductions between the two groups’ joint meetings March 30 and April 11.

At the March 30 meeting, AOS (Alternative Educational Structure) Superintendent Eric Haley and Finance Director Paula Pooler talked about potential savings in teacher salaries, health insurance and high-school tuition. By April 11, they presented a revised budget that was $137,698 lower than the March 30 draft, with most of the savings in the three areas previously listed. However, under currently estimated state funding the revised budget would still require an increase in local property taxes approaching $388,000, which would raise the tax rate by close to one mil ($1 for each $1,000 of valuation).

Meeting without the school board on April 13, budget committee members advocated another $139,000 be taken from the school budget. They scheduled their next meeting for Tuesday evening, April 25, instead of the previously planned April 18, hoping to give school board members time to react (despite school vacation week).

Factors likely, but not guaranteed, to improve the financial situation include a more generous state subsidy for schools and, Town Manager Mary Sabins said, more state revenue sharing to the town than she currently projects and/or a larger than anticipated increase in property valuation when the assessor finishes his work.

Until at least some of these possibilities are realized, budget committee members made only tentative decisions on endorsing proposed municipal expenditures. In general, they accepted the proposals from Sabins and the board of selectmen, with the following exceptions:

  • Transfer Station Manager George Hamar asked for up to $20,000 for two new roll-off containers (about $7,500 apiece) and a snow-pusher attachment and chains for the backhoe he is acquiring from the Public Works Department. Selectmen approved both; budget committee members recommended $15,000 for the containers only.
  • After talking with Dan Mayotte, chief of Vassalboro’s First Responders, budget committee members on a 4-3 vote recommended $10,000 for the service instead of the $4,900 Sabins and selectmen recommended.
  • Selectmen endorsed the request for up to $35,000 to buy a new police vehicle in 2017-18. The budget committee recommended delaying the purchase.
  • Both boards advise voters to give $5,000 to the China Region Lakes Alliance (which requested $15,000), but selectmen plan to use money from taxes and the budget committee recommends appropriating it from the alewife fund (money from the sale of alewives caught at Webber Pond dam each spring).

Both boards agreed to recommend a $500 donation to Waterville Area Literacy Volunteers, the selectmen on a 2-1 vote. Selectmen have not had a chance to react to budget committee members’ recommendations on expenditures on which the two boards disagree. The next selectmen’s meeting is at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 20, in the town office meeting room.

Vassalboro’s annual town meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, June 5. Budget committee members discussed postponing it to the end of June to get firm state figures on which to base local decisions; Sabins pointed out legal requirements surrounding the annual meeting and the school budget validation vote that made postponement too difficult to be seriously considered. Local elections will be held June 13 in conjunction with the state election day. Nomination papers for positions on the board of selectmen, school board and sanitary district board are available at the town office.

Vassalboro News: Public hearing planned for revised sanitary district charter

by Mary Grow

VASSALBORO — At the April 6th Vassalboro selectmen’s meeting, selectmen and Sanitary District trustees discussed the revised sanitary district charter that town voters will be asked to approve or reject at the June 5th town meeting.

Selectmen scheduled a public hearing on the document for Thursday evening, May 4. Town Manager Mary Sabins suggested a hearing on proposed revisions to Vassalboro’s shoreland ordinance the same evening if the date is acceptable to the Planning Board.

Raymond Breton, chairman of the sanitary district board, said the current charter dates from 1972. The trustees had an attorney prepare the revision to bring the charter up to current standards.
Selectmen had questions about whether the revised charter matches actual practice. In other business April 6, board Chairman Lauchlin Titus congratulated public works employee James “J.J.” Wentworth on receiving a Road Scholar award for participation in state training sessions.

Sabins explained that the Road Scholar designation, granted by the state Department of Transportation, is the “highest achievement of public works employees,” equivalent to certification for a town clerk or a town manager. To earn Road Scholar status, a public works employee must attend ten workshop days, seven mandatory classes and three optional, sponsored by the department’s Local Roads Center.

Public Works Director Eugene Field attained his Road Scholar certification in the spring of 2014, Sabins said.

Selectmen awarded two bids. The cemetery mowing bid went to Scott’s Property Care, of Oakland, the company which did the work last year for the same price, $24,500, Sabins said. The 1984 fire truck was sold to David Saunders, of Orland, highest of seven bidders, for $4,125.25. Board members unanimously agreed that the transfer station will be closed Sunday, April 16, for Easter.

They approved and signed a letter asking the school board to take time to advertise future vacancies, instead of filling them immediately.

The next regular Vassalboro selectmen’s meeting will be Thursday evening, April 20. The budget committee is scheduled to meet on Thursday, April 13, and if necessary again on Tuesday, April 18, to make recommendations on proposed town meeting expenditures.

VASSALBORO NEWS: School budget does not look good for taxpayers

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.