Uncertainties persist as Vassalboro selectmen, budget committee prepare budget

by Mary Grow

In a normal year, Vassalboro selectmen and Budget Committee members get increasingly reliable figures as they move through the municipal budget process, from initial requests in January to definite figures in April for town meeting voters’ action in June.

In 2020 uncertainties are increasing as fast as they’re decreasing, on both the revenue and the expenditure side.

Selectmen held a virtual budget workshop in March 31, and on April 2, after their regular meeting (see below/above/p. ), they and budget committee members talked virtually for another hour and a half.

The goal shared by both committees, but not necessarily with the same specifics, is to provide for municipal needs at a price taxpayers can afford.

In addition to property taxes, revenue comes from excise taxes on motor vehicles, fees, the state and federal governments and other sources. The school budget, which selectmen do not control, is the major annual expenditure. Revenues also support town government and the county tax.

On the revenue side, a major uncertainty is the effect of the economic downturn on state and federal aid to towns and cities.

Another question raised at the municipal budget meetings and earlier among school board members was the effect of unemployment on taxpayers’ ability to pay 2020-21 taxes.

On expenditures, selectmen recommend increasing town support for the First Responders, on the ground of increased need, and increasing the total for firefighters’ stipends, based on current-year expenditures.

They expect the Kennebec County budget request, and therefore Vassalboro’s county tax, will increase, because of additional local responsibilities (see The Town Line, Feb. 27, and March 12). Selectman John Melrose, Vassalboro’s representative on the county budget committee, said budget discussions haven’t yet started.

The draft 2020-21 budget calls for increased funds for road paving, because, Melrose said at the March 12 selectmen’s meeting, after several years of too-little repaving, Vassalboro has begun to catch up. Road Foreman Eugene Field thinks it possible that if oil prices stay low, the price of paving will be lower than expected.

Selectmen reached consensus on reducing several suggested or requested expenditures, including lowering estimated insurance costs; not increasing their own stipends; and eliminating a proposed part-time public works position and not supporting Field’s requested pay increases for veteran employees (see The Town Line, March 19).

The last item led to a recommendation for a later review of longevity provisions in the town’s personnel policy.

Also to be discussed at a later meeting are the Historical Society’s request for a $5,000 donation toward a $45,000 metal storage building (see The Town Line, March 19,).

Selectmen did not delete a request for $2,000 to continue plans to observe Vassalboro’s 250th anniversary (sestercentennial) in 2021. Melrose, with assistance from Fieldstone Gardens, has started anniversary improvements at the East Vassalboro memorial park.

Two major timing questions not yet resolved are when to buy a new town truck and a new fire truck.

No final decisions on municipal budget amounts were made, primarily because budget committee members want to see the final school budget first.

Town Manager Mary Sabins reported that Vassalboro’s overall property valuation has fallen below the level acceptable to the state. Therefore, she said, assessor Ellery Bane intends a town-wide valuation of at least five percent, perhaps 10 percent.

In addition, Sabins proposes asking Bane to begin the first of four quarterly reviews in 2020-21, during which he and his staff will visit about a quarter of the properties in town looking for changes that will affect individual valuations. The review will cost money, she said, but on the basis of past experience, it will bring in more money, from previously-unrecorded changes that increase valuation, than it will cost.

Board Chairman Lauchlin Titus favors proceeding with the quarterly review.

As of April 2, Sabins did not know whether Vassalboro’s June 1 town meeting can be held as scheduled. On the assumption that it will, budget committee members tentatively scheduled April 7 and April 9 meetings, the former to follow a tentatively-scheduled school board meeting.

Vassalboro’s virtual public meetings are announced on the school website, vcsvikings.org, under Information and can be watched there. As of April 6, the website listed the April 7 school board and budget committee meetings and the April 9 budget committee meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m.