Vassalboro select board agrees to three ballot questions

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro select board members agreed at their Aug. 28 meeting on three questions to present to voters on Nov. 4.

The local ballot will ask voters to approve or reject:

— Appropriating up to $19,220 from surplus to pay the auditor’s bills;
— Expanding the select board from three to five members; and
— Approving changes to the town’s TIF (Tax Increment Financing) document.

Town Manager Aaron Miller explained the auditor’s bills to the select board and to the six budget committee members present. A history of bills and payments since early 2024 led to the requested amount.

Miller again said the audit for fiscal year (FY) 2023 is finished; FY 2024’s final figures are expected in September; and FY 2025’s in December.

Budget committee and select board members recommended voters approve the appropriation from surplus.

Revisions to the TIF document are not quite in final form, Miller said. The draft document is on the town’s website, Vassalboro.net, on the select board’s Aug. 28 agenda page.

Vassalboro voters will have another local ballot on Nov. 4: election of a member of the Kennebec Water District board of trustees. As of Aug. 28, Town Clerk Cathy Coyne said incumbent Frank Richards had returned signed nomination papers; she knew of no other potential candidate.

Select board members briefly discussed conducting a survey at the polls, asking voters if they prefer the traditional open town meeting, with most voting by show of hands, or a written-ballot meeting.

Nov. 4 voting will be at Vassalboro Community School, not at the town office.

The select board meeting was preceded by an hour-and-a-half long executive session.

As the Aug. 28 meeting ended, select board members rescheduled their next meeting from the usual Thursday, to 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 3. Board member Chris French said the change was because board chairman Frederick “Rick” Denico, Jr., would be out of town and French had another obligation the evening of Sept. 4.