Vassalboro budget committee recommends town voters approve 2023-24 budget

by Mary Grow

At their April 11 meeting, Vassalboro Budget Committee members recommended town voters approve the 2023-24 school budget as presented by the school board. They also endorsed most of the municipal budget recommendations, differing from the select board on three issues.

Select Board Chair Barbara Redmond said select board members would consider the budget committee actions at their April 13 meeting, when they are scheduled to review the draft warrant for the June 5 town meeting. Her preference, she said, is for the two boards to agree.

The increase in the 2023-24 school budget over the current year’s is $145, 475.91, according to the figure presented at the meeting. Budget committee members supported it unanimously.

Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer thanked Budget Committee member Michael Poulin for attending school board meetings for the past two years so he would be informed about issues making up the budget.

Town Manager Aaron Miller said the proposed 2023-24 municipal budget had an increase of $54,472.

Budget Committee member Douglas Phillips raised a main issue early in the meeting: his goal is to keep the tax rate from rising. Miller said it is now 14.40 mils, or $14.40 for each $1,000 of property valuation.

To determine the new tax rate, committee members needed to know both proposed expenditures and expected revenues for 2023-24. Miller had assembled some revenue figures, but some are not yet available.

Notably missing, and not available for weeks, is the assessor’s report on how much Vassalboro’s property valuation has increased since last year. Normally, the select board sets the tax rate in August, after town meeting voters have approved expenditures and after the valuation is known.

Without complete revenue figures, as budget committee member Philip Landry pointed out, the committee members could only guess whether reductions were needed at all to hold the tax rate level. Nor could they be sure a lower figure, if accepted by voters, would be low enough to achieve Phillips’ goal.

By the end of the April 11 meeting, the two boards were in disagreement over the public safety budget – Police Chief Mark Brown asked for more hours, the select board approved, the budget committee majority disagreed; the budget for paving, specifically Road Foreman Eugene Field’s plan to pave short gravel roads; and the requested increase for the China Region Lakes Alliance.

At that point, estimates of the impact on tax bills ran from an increase of 30 cents to an increase of 70 cents for each $1,000 of valuation.

Topics discussed at length included proposed salary increases for town employees; expansion of the recreation program; and support of the Vassalboro Public Library.

In two separate votes, budget committee members unanimously supported the select board’s proposed salary increases and endorsed the 6.5% cost of living increase by a 9-1 vote. They recommended the proposed $65,898 recreation budget on an 8-2 vote and the library request for $71,000 on a 7-3 vote.

Early in the meeting, Redmond settled one issue quickly. Budget Committee member Frank Richards asked why Vassalboro is asked to pay Delta Ambulance more than $66,000 next year, after no fee in the past.

Redmond and the rest of the select board recommended the item after hearing that Delta gets no reimbursement for calls when the patient is not transported; that insurance payments have not kept up with costs; and that most other Maine ambulance services charge towns more than the $15 per person (according to the census) that Delta requests.

She told Richards if voters don’t approve the funding, “We won’t have coverage. If you call 911 you might get a First Responder from town, but you won’t get an ambulance.”

Vassalboro First Responders are not licensed to transport. Select board members said they asked about other towns’ ambulances, and no neighboring service wants to add Vassalboro.

“What choice do we have?” Richards conceded.

Budget committee members did not plan to meet again on the 2023-24 budget. Vassalboro select board meetings were scheduled for April 13 and April 27, with the town meeting warrant to be signed April 27.