Budget survey yanked

RUMFORD — A proposed budget survey designed to provide more transparency for residents was scrapped at Thursday night's selectmen meeting, despite considerable discussion.

Chairman Brad Adley's suggestion to create a Citizen Budget Survey with which to gauge public opinion and better guide the board in budget work died for lack of a motion after two department heads and Selectman Greg Buccina argued against it.

Selectman Frank DiConzo initiated discussion on the survey, which was tabled from last month's board meeting for tweaking before rollout.

Prior to that meeting, selectmen convened a workshop to draft survey questions to better guide answers from the public.

On Thursday night, Puiia handed out copies of the newly-tweaked survey to selectmen, after which, DiConzo said he liked the changes.

Town Manager Carlo Puiia then read the first question, which asked respondents if they wanted to pare firefighters from the department.

Police Chief Stacy Carter then asked selectmen how they intended to limit respondents to one survey response only.

He was told the board would only count those on which respondents included their name and address, which could then be checked to learn if they are Rumford residents.

Buccina, who has opposed the survey since its inception, again criticized the board for reviving it after it was killed last month due to a lack of funds to get it out to the public.

"This is very close-minded," he said. "I don't agree with this, because it's not a good idea to arbitrarily decide to cut employees. That's going to be the least bang for the buck."

Adley then suggested they change the question from a yes or no response to one that would elicit comments.

Puiia suggested altering the questions to ask for the respondent's opinion on the level of service, but both fire Chief Robert Chase and police Chief Stacy Carter said that wouldn't work either.

They argued that more information was needed to tell respondents what would happen to municipal services if cuts were made.

Then, Selectman Mark Belanger said that likely only 100 people would respond to the survey, rendering the responses as a minority opinion based on the town's entire population.

"I'm not getting a warm fuzzy feeling from this and it was my idea," Adley said.

"I think it has some value, but we're not going to support funding it," Buccina said.

The idea then died, prompting Puiia to reiterate that residents can always contact him and share opinions.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com