China to hold business meeting by written ballot

by Mary Grow

China voters will conduct their 2023 annual town business meeting by written ballot on Tuesday, June 13, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., in the former portable classroom behind the town office on Lakeview Drive.

The local warrant has 32 articles. On a separate Regional School Unit #18 ballot, voters will accept or reject the 2023-24 school budget approved May 18 by voters from the five member towns (Belgrade, China, Oakland, Rome and Sidney).

Absentee ballots are available at the town office until June 8, according to the town website, china.govoffice.com.

Voters present before the polls open will deal with Art. 1, electing a moderator. Art. 2 asks those casting ballots to appropriate expected non-tax revenues, and Art. 3 asks them to appropriate money from both assigned and unassigned fund balances for 2023-24 expenses. Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood explained that assigned funds, in the amount of $166,607, are state revenue sharing money.

Under state law, revenue sharing is to be used to fund municipal services and “stabilize the municipal property tax burden” – in other words, to shift some expenditures from local property taxes to “the broad-based taxes of State Government.” State officials distribute revenue sharing money according to a formula that takes into account each municipality’s state valuation, tax assessment and population (according to the Maine State Treasurer’s website).

Hapgood said that expenditures from unassigned funds are incorporated in Art. 3 (up to $144,500 “to meet expenses”); Art. 4 ($20,000 for a legal reserve account); Art. 8 ($20,000 for the compactor reserve account); Art. 9 ($64,000 for the public works capital reserve account, intended to be used to buy portable traffic lights); and Art. 11 ($190,500 for contingency expenses).

Art. 7 requests $340,645 for public safety, an account that includes local fire departments and China Rescue, animal control, police services from the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office and a new emergency dispatching service, now that Somerset County has stopped serving China (and other towns).

At an April 3 meeting, budget committee member Elizabeth Curtis pointed out that the amount is much higher than the comparable request a year ago. But she wondered whether it will cover unknown costs of a different emergency service answering system.

Hapgood could give her no answer. She reminded committee members that during the first discussion of the issue back in January, Kennebec County Emergency Management Agency Director Art True promised emergency calls will always be answered, somehow.

Curtis was further concerned that voters might reject the higher amount. According to Art. 13, if they deny any rejected appropriation, funding automatically reverts to the current year’s amount.

Curtis asked Hapgood if Art. 13 is a good idea, or whether a failed appropriation should trigger discussion. Hapgood said depending on the article, lack of funds might shut down some town services on July 1. Short funding, however, could indeed trigger discussion and a follow-up vote in November.

Except for emergency dispatching, most of the proposed expenditures in the warrant represent normal increases over the current fiscal year. Another exception is Art. 29, which asks voters to appropriate $43,000 from unassigned fund balance toward the town office addition, the planned fireproof vault to be in a small building attached to the south side of the existing building.

This expenditure, like most others on the warrant, is recommended unanimously by select board and budget committee members. On some articles, a committee member abstained to avoid a possible conflict of interest.

Exceptions, with split votes, are:

• Art. 4, municipal services, including town office functions, legal expenses and Maine Municipal Association dues. At the April 3 budget committee meeting, Curtis voted not to recommend the expenditure.
• Art. 5, boards’ and committees’ expenses, this year including no recompense for select board members. Curtis again dissented.
• Art. 27, a request for ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds to codify municipal ordinances; select board chairman Wayne Chadwick and member Brent Chesley and budget committee chairman Thomas Rumpf do not recommend this expenditure.

Art. 32, which asks if voters want to approve amendments to Chapter 9, Appeals, of China’s Land Development Code, has divided recommendations from the planning board (co-chairman James Wilkens objects) and the select board (Jeanne Marquis objects). During lengthy discussions by both boards, other members were unenthusiastic; by time for final decisions, all but Wilkens and Marquis endorsed the amendments rather than waste the time invested.

The proposed changes are on the Town of China website under the Elections tab. The version called mark-ups shows the changes; the Proposed Chapter 9 Appeals Ordinance is the version being voted on.

Generally there are two types of changes. There was little controversy over verbal, administrative and procedural changes (“chairman” becomes chair”; board members’ terms become three years instead of five; time limits for steps in appeal and variance processes are amended and/or added and procedures are spelled out).

Two issues are mainly responsible for opposition to the amendments. One is deletion of nine environmental requirements for granting a variance in Section 3A. The other is addition of a provision in Section 3B, also describing variances, allowing a reduced setback from a neighbor’s property with the neighbor’s written consent.

Art. 30 asks voter action on another amended ordinance, the Solid Waste Ordinance. Only briefly discussed at meetings and recommended by all five select board members, the final version of this document is also under the Elections tab on the town website.

Its main purpose is to combine and update two earlier local solid waste ordinances. There has been no controversy at public meetings or hearings over this document.

The 32-article warrant does not include two expenditures that voters used to consider (nor were they in the 2022 warrant): appropriations for the Kennebec County budget and for FirstPark, the Oakland business park supported by many area municipalities.

Hapgood told budget committee members at their April 3 meeting that these are mandatory, so there’s no point in asking voters to act. The proposed 2023-24 municipal budget, another document that is available on the website under the Elections tab, shows the town will spend $27,550 for FirstPark and $607,333 for Kennebec County.

The list of anticipated 2023-24 revenues in Art. 2 of the town meeting warrant includes $27,550 from FirstPark. Hapgood said this amount is expected, but not guaranteed.

In addition to the town business meeting, China voters will have a separate ballot asking if they approve or reject the 2023-24 Regional School Unit #18 budget adopted in May. At the May 22 select board meeting, RSU #18 Superintendent Carl Gartley said China’s share of the RSU budget will increase by $106,000, or slightly more than two percent.

China’s municipal elections are held in November. In 2023, election day will be on Nov. 8. For those who like to plan ahead, the following elected officials’ terms end in 2023 (according to the 2022 annual town report, now available at the town office):

• On the select board, chairman Wayne Chadwick and Jeanne Marquis. All select board members are elected from anywhere in town, for two-year terms.
• On the planning board, Michael Brown (District 1, northwest), Walter Bennett (District 3, southeast) and Natale Tripodi (alternate, elected from anywhere in town). The District 4 seat (southwest) is vacant.
• On the budget committee, chairman Thomas Rumpf (elected from anywhere in town), Kevin Maroon (District 1) and Michael Sullivan (District 3). Secretary Trishea Story has resigned; the secretary, like the chairman, is elected from the town at large.

Nomination papers for local elective offices will be available in July.