RUMFORD — Depending on the whims of voters, selectmen could put months of multiple meetings behind them this week and finalize the 2010-11 budget that is normally set after the June town meeting.
This year’s anomalies are a proposed welfare budget that’s twice been rejected and a petition-initiated revote on funding for Black Mountain ski resort. Those issues could be decided at the polls from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 13, in the American Legion on upper Congress Street.
Selectmen and the Finance Committee have recommended a $35,000 welfare budget and a $51,000 donation to the nonprofit ski resort, which failed to get any funding through the initiated-article process at town meeting in June.
Voters have rejected raising and appropriating $70,021 and $60,000 for the welfare budget. Selectmen then pared the amount to $35,000 for a third try.
Should voters again reject the welfare budget, selectmen and the committee would have to repeat the process to recommend an amount and try again. State law requires towns to have general assistance budgets.
Other meetings this week include a special business meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 12, in Muskie Auditorium at Mountain Valley High School on a proposed wind ordinance with which to regulate wind farm development and a proposed charter change to simplify the initiated-articles ballot when selectmen and the committee do not agree on an amount to recommend.
After discussion is completed, the meeting will adjourn to Nov. 2 for balloting.
At 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14, selectmen will hold the second of two public hearings on the proposed wind ordinance.
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high school
What are in high school. to be nice about this bickering back in forth between you 2 is half the dam problem. (not just you two) thema is a wonderful lady with many years of service working for Rumford . She has in the last what like 15 years saved rumford money. The point is this as with any company that i have worked for over the years. If a company didnt have work for me at my job they found me work else were within the company and if they didnt have any work then i was let go. now correct me if i wrong here but arent the voters going to vote on a G.A. budget, not Thema's job. she has expressed that she does not want to work for just 12 hrs (can ya blame her) so she was moved around within the company were there was work. (Whats the problem). One thing to remember is the Town of rumford in not the the city. good people are NOT easily replaced.
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The delay is not the fault of the people Kevin. It's the fault of those who have manipulated what should have been done. We all know who they are. They voted 4 to 1 and then allowed management to manipulate hrs. which save the town no money. So contrary to what you want people to believe Kevin you have become part of the manipulating problem that has taken place in the town Hall. The people have spoken and the people who are suppose to listen have done just the opposite. Is that a surprise ? Nope! And is your backing them a surprise? Nope! Let's look at what they have done and what you are supporting.
1. The General Asst. person statated" if the hours were cut to 12 she wouldn"t stay". The town manager did some manipulating to give her more hrs. so she could stay on and keep insurance coverage. This is coat saving.
2. If she didn't want to stay for the 12 hrs. then it was her choice. This should be run within a certain office. But that will never happen. It would save money.
3. The personnel policy grandfathering has cost the town money also. Yet you blame the people who expose it. Guess we know your not on the side of the tax payer but on the side of the manipulating spenders.
The people should be told the real facts. And they are not. It's not their vote that is costing money. And you know it. So just continue siding with those who are really manipulating and costing the town money because you fit right in with them.
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Your comments prove that you will not rest until Thelma is unemployed. One has to wonder why you and others are so intent on getting rid of her. She has continually reduced the General Assistance budget over the years, and has done a good job of screening people who don't qualify. It would seem that you just don't like the rules the town must adhere to, so you are blaming her.
Yes, the town found additional work for her. They did this by splitting a full time position in the town clerk's office (I don't believe the other other person sharing the position receives benefits), and having Thelma work in the tax collector's office two days a week. She took a pay cut due to the pay rate for the other positions, but maintains her benefits. And that is the big deal here, isn't it? You want to take away Thelma's benefits. Well, you did nothing to make changes in that department when you were in office, but now that you have joined us on the outside, you yell and scream and accuse those who remained in office of wrongdoing.
This is a witch hunt pure and simple and you should be ashamed of yourself for taking part in it.
As for me, I call it as I see it, and don't you DARE accuse me of being part of any conspiracy. I have no allegiances in town politics except the town charter and the best interest of the town. Everything I have said was accurate. You can have your own opinion, but not your own facts. The delay in approving the General Assistance budget is the sole responsibility of the Concerned Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility for using political games and misinformation to trick the voters into voting against a budget that worked. You know as well as I that most voters rely upon what they read in the newspaper to make decisions on how they vote. They can approve any amount they like, but they will still end up paying tens of thousands of dollars to those who need it as required under state law.
I don't expect you to agree with me. In my experience, you usually make up your mind, and no amount of convincing can change it. Unfortunately, there are a large number of lemmings out there who are easily fooled by your fabricated reality.
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Things around Kevin. Your good at it. She was never going to lose her job Kevin. She still had the job at 12 /week. She said she would leave if that happened. Well it didn"t happen. The inner manipulation took place and the town saves no money. That's the bottom line . The only witch hunt Kevin is what you make up and spew out. What you do Kevin is not reality. The town does follow state law. But how administered is up to the town. And yes you are on the bandwagon of not saving money. So you stay in the back pocket of of the powers to be and help them over spend.
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I don't turn things around, I straighten them out.
See you downtown Frankie :)
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One thing I can say about Frank is that he never holds my opinion against me. Even after reading these comments, he will still greet me on the street. We may discuss the comments, but we are still on a friendly basis.
I like that :)
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Sorry for the spelling of cost at the end of #1. coat should be cost.
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Fixing the town isn't going to be an easy road. One needs to look at the big picture here. You have a town that drives out everybody from age of we'll say 18 to 45. If your Under the age of 45 either your one of the lucky ones that got a job or your traveling out of town. to make maybe a lil better then min wage. for the sake of argument let say joe smoe works in lewiston at $9.00hr 40 hr a week. He grosses $360 a week after taxes take home around $280. Ok after that $ we'll say $60 for gas and just for the sake of argument. say his bills are paid it's a Friday night ,got $100 in his pocket and no kids for the weekend. whats a person in rumfrod supposed to do. NOTHING because there is nothing to do there. oh they say there is all kinda of stuff to do. Were is that. so they head out to auburn or lewiston to go out for the night. another $100 that could have been spent in town. The biggest increase to any tax base is the people that live there. If there is nothing to keep them there why are they going to stay. For years we have all watched anything that came to town . That would help promote keeping the people there get driven out as fast as they came in. on another note, That is not even counting the police force. Y'all can say that if ya wasn't doing anything wrong u have nothing to worry about(BULL----) Don't get me wrong here. there is a lot of good that goes on within the police department. but do some police work and stop harassing the towns people. All your doing is pissing off the people in town. look back 50 or 60 years see a difference I see one big one. Back then we had a town that had the power of the people.
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Y'all crack me up. the problem is simple and know one cares enough to help fix the problem. The problem isn't with the people that live in Rumford needing help. Why is that they need this help. because over the last five years or so the town government has spent more time fighting and Pickering with each other. With all that went on within the town. they spent resources (money and time) one fighting one another. (what a great way to spend taxpayer money) Why couldn't they spend that moneys on finding a way to bring more jobs to the area. But that aright in a few more years people won't have to worry about it ant more anyways Rumford will be a ghost town. " The Town of Jay has a GA budget of $5000 per year. Who is really being fooled here?" LMAO your the one being fooled and you can't even see it. Jay is smaller town then rumford and has a few more jobs then Rumford. (smaller town more jobs hmmmmm.) also it's a a lot closer to any kind job a person might find out of town. but that OK just sit back and complain some more about all the so called low lifes that all talk about. intill y'all fix the town government. it's only gonna get worse. they are elected officials that the people of the town put in office. that are not doing their jobs. It's has gotten better over the last year or so but that still don't change the past. The writings on the wall (your elected officals did this to the town of RUMFORD ) not the people that live there
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You all will have a chance to vote for more jobs when the (anti-)wind power ordinance AKA permanent moratorium comes up for vote. If you vote in favor of the ordinance you are closing the door on any and all hope of jobs coming to Rumford in any form. If you vote NO we may or may not get wind power but, prospective investors will get the message we aren't a bunch of nuts bent on keeping out all economic development and making it impossible to do business here.
Without a doubt, we need to have a vision for Rumford. Without a doubt, we need to have ordinances for noise and other things accross the board, not discriminatory singling out one business or industry. The citizenry of Rumford should be working now towards a quality comprehensive package for consideration next year and Vote NO on this discriminatory ordinance that will cripple Rumford economically for the foreseeable future.
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The turmoil of the past few years has been both a financial drain on the town and a distraction from the things that need to get done. The current board members do get along and discuss things (often to death), but have difficulty committing to much. They seem timid to act, likely in fear of causing more turmoil. It is a thankless position that doesn't allow any room for mistakes. If they support enforcing the building code, they are attacked by the landlords, if they don't they are attacked by those who want our town cleaned up. Most issues have two sides, and this board seems to be riding the fence on almost every issue.
Carlo has spent most of his time cleaning up from previous Town Managers. He has tied up many loose ends, and worked to coordinate response to the mess caused by the repetitive voting on the General Assistance budget, as well as the other town meeting issues. It will be nice to see what he can achieve once these issues are cleared up. However, I have told both the board and Carlo that you cannot make an omelet without breaking some eggs. The board and Town Manager need to be willing to take a position that is in the best interest of the majority of the citizens after fully looking into an issue. Wishy-washy leadership will not achieve anything.
Back when I was on the board, I stated that we needed to build the tax base to avoid higher taxes. That was over 20 years ago, and not much has been done. N.O.T.E.D.->RVGC has made marginal efforts to promote Rumford. This is primarily because they are a regional organization and partially because the have saddled themselves with the Tech Center. The Chamber of Commerce, on which we rely to promote the area has driven away members due to domineering leadership. I give credit to those who revived it back in the late 1980s, but am saddened at what it has become. It serves it's members, but cannot be relied upon to be the sole source for promoting Rumford.
One reason for the lack of progress, is the lack of vision and planning. We have a Comprehensive Plan that was created and approved by the voters, but it literally sat on a shelf for many years after the primary project the information center (a.k.a. Ron Theriault's house of pee) was completed. I give credit to the Park Commission for finding a way to move ahead with some of the projects, but most everything else fell by the wayside.
Our infrastructure has fallen into disrepair due to special projects. JL fought for the walking trail along the riverbank by the library. I was informed that some of the money for that project came from the sidewalk fund. Look at our downtown sidewalks now. Some of the money to develop the roads for the industrial and business parks came from the roads fund. Meanwhile, we have roads in Swift River park that haven't been re-surfaced since they were built in the 1960s. Yes, the industrial and business parks are important to us, and yes, they have expanded our tax base, but the remainder of the town has been left to suffer. I fully support fund integrity. When money is allocated for a particular use, it should go to that use. If you have a special project, it needs to be approved by the voters, not finagled in a back room deal, shifting funds. I believe that our current board has the capacity to function in this manner, it is just a case of whether or not they have the integrity to do so.
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Disagree with me all you want, I am speaking the truth. Some people don't want to hear the truth, others don't want to acknowledge it.
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absolutely NOT speaking the truth as Frank points out. You live in your own world, or rather, basement.
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Why don't you tell about the manipulation that took place in tax office and General Asst. hrs. game that save the town nothing. We are lucky that the town didn't get nailed for discrimination. What could happen to save money will never happen now. This is the truth so stop being part of the cover-up efforts.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.That's the funniest thing
I've read all day! You meant that as a joke, right Kevin? "The turmoil of the past few years has been both a financial drain on the town and a distraction from the things that need to get done." You realize you have been a big part of that turmoil, right Kevin? Along with Ron Theriault and Jennifer Stowell Norris? The problem with Rumford is not just a lack of vision, but let's all take a minute to envision what Rumfod would be like without you 3. A better place, that's for sure. The real problem with Rumford is that the loud mouths want progress, unless they don't like the people trying to make it happen.
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I would respond to your comment if you had remained respectful.
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respond!! Responding and saying that you're not going to respond is a response. Come on now Kevin we've been through this.
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you're funny
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.A few years back i needed a
A few years back i needed a little help from the town (needed help with the lights) They did help me. BUT i was required to work 4 days at 5 hours a days and $5 n hr. so did I not work for the money that the town helped me with. It WASN'T some handout.
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Just for clarity, the General Assistance budget has nothing to do with the state welfare program. It is in place to serve Rumford resident who hit hard times. The program does not draw people into town. The budget proposed is insufficient to run the program, but must be approved. The state requires the town to have the program and provide assistance to those in need. Under our current program, non-disabled recipients must work to earn their allotment, and allotments to disabled recipients get reimbursed.
This delay in approving the General Assistance ("welfare") budget has cost the town a couple of thousand dollars so far. However, until it is approved, the town will have to borrow money to operate because the final town budget and tax rate cannot be set. The interest on the bond is an additional cost to the town. Meanwhile, by state law we are forced to provide assistance beyond the amount we have approved, which will affect next year's taxes. If this fails, tax bills will not be out until Christmas (sorry kids, no presents this year, we have to pay taxes).
If you notice, the huge ad in the Times did not address any specific problem in the General Assistance department that requires these cuts to be made. I believe that the persons behind the ad are merely using this strategy to get rid of the director of the program. It isn't about budgets, it is about Thema. She has been in the position for a while and become very skilled in performing her job, but some people wish to ignore the fact that she has cut the amount paid in General Assistance in half. If you look at the budget for the past 15 years, you see the steady decline. It appears that these people want to throw her out on the street for doing her job. Don't let them manipulate you, Don't be fooled.
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From an individual who, only a few months ago, insisted that it was less costly for the Town to hire additional fire department personnel rather than pay overtime to existing personnal. The Town of Jay has a GA budget of $5000 per year. Who is really being fooled here?
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.First of, Jay does not have a
First of, Jay does not have a salary in their general assistance budget it is part of the salary of another position. That person is taken away from those duties when someone comes in to apply for GA, there is a hearing or some other GA need. That would take off $10,000 of what is in Rumford's budget. Next, Jay "budgets" $5000 then they take any and all overages out of surplus and other accounts as permitted by law. GA is one of the only accounts that allows this, not only allows requires that GA go over budget if demand dictates and the money most come from someplace else since budgets have already been set. Call Jay and ask how much they actually spent of GA last year and you will find out that what they gave to clients was a lot more than $5000 and that the salary was paid through another account.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Hmmm
I would be interested to see Jay's budget. I would speculate that this amount does not include the monies paid out, but merely administrative/supplies.
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