CHINA NEWS: Committee endorses selectmen’s spending plan

by Mary Grow

China Budget Committee members have endorsed the selectmen’s spending recommendations for the March 25 town business meeting, in all but one case by unanimous votes.

The largest proposed expenditures in the warrant budget committee members reviewed at their Feb. 16 meeting were, as usual, for road maintenance, town administration, insurance and the transfer station. Budget committee members supported all of them after a few questions. The transfer station budget has increased over the current year because Palermo residents now bring their trash to China, but Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux said Palermo’s annual contribution plus the per-bag fee charged to Palermo residents will cover the increase. Two new items to be presented to voters required budget committee action, a request for up to $40,000 for stipends to volunteer emergency services personnel (Art. 20) and a request to authorize selectmen to repurchase China’s interest in the Penobscot Energy Recovery Company (PERC) (Art. 56).

The proposed stipends, suggested initially by Neil Farrington, chairman of the selectboard, are intended to encourage more people to join China’s three volunteer fire departments and China Rescue. If voters approve, any money used would be taken from China’s Unrestricted Fund Balance (UFB, familiarly called surplus) and disbursed according to policies to be developed by selectmen and emergency services volunteers.

China’s current contract with PERC ends in 2018 and will not be renewed. In March 2016, voters authorized selectmen to switch to the new Fiberight facility being developed in Hampden. L’Heureux told budget committee members the town should get about $17,000 back from PERC.

The article on which one budget committee member abstained – the rest supported it – was L’Heureux’s request to move $150,000 from surplus to the capital and equipment reserve (Art. 14). The manager argues that should an expensive piece of town equipment break down beyond repair, selectmen could use the reserve to replace it without calling a special town meeting and without borrowing money.

In November 2016 voters rejected L’Heureux’s request to move $100,000 from the UFB into the capital reserve account by a vote of 911 in favor to 1,354 opposed.
Budget committee member Tom Rumpf declined to support the recommendation for the March 25 meeting because he thinks the amount is too high.
Budget committee members – and the manager – want China to maintain a healthy surplus, because it improves the town’s financial standing and is a benefit in case the town should need to borrow money. L’Heureux’s point is that money in a designated fund, like the capital and equipment reserve, still counts toward overall financial health.

China’s town business meeting begins at 9 a.m. – or as soon thereafter as a quorum of 126 registered voters assembles – Saturday, March 25, at China Middle School.

L’Heureux said if voters approve all municipal expenditures as recommended, they will not increase the property tax rate. However, property taxes also support the school budget, which will be voted on in June, and the Kennebec County budget, over which town voters have no direct control.