MECHANIC FALLS – All 42 articles in the annual meeting warrant were passed Tuesday night by approximately 70 residents, who learned they can expect a lower tax rate.
And credit was given, in part, to Maine’s Town Manager of the Year Dana Lee and Maine Elementary School Principal of the Year Mary Martin.
“It is the quality of work that they do,” resident Gary Purington said when describing Town Manager Lee’s and Elm Street School Principal Martin’s work ethic. “They are very responsible with the town’s money and well deserved to have these awards.”
Budget Committee member Carlton Beckett also commended the School Committee, the Town Council and the superintendent for a job well done.
The 2005-2006 budget is $63,000 more than this year – from $1.61 million to $1.67 million – but non-property-tax revenues have increased so much the tax rate will drop.
“However, I will not have a solid figure for our tax rate to announce until later this week after discussing figures with the assessor,” Lee advised.
Lee and state Sen. John Nutting admitted, though, that there is room to improve. They both referred to the Essential Programs and Services Funding Act.
“The EPS formula, to me, still has a lot of problems,” Nutting said. “We have fixed some of the problems but here again, not enough.”
EPS is a new statewide school formula based on school coverage area and school enrollment.
Another setback, Lee said, is the Homestead Exemption, which is a tax break for homeowners. The exemption jumped to $13,000, but the state isn’t reimbursing towns for the higher amount.
“So in an odd twist, I have to raise taxes to give you tax relief,” Lee said. “The good news is that we are going through a revaluation and the mill rate should drop substantially.”
The solid waste department this year topped the charts, ranking No. 1 for spending increases.
“The amount of tonnage has increased dramatically this year, and the cost of testing has tripled,” Lee said.
He said he is puzzled on how to deal with such increases when the state forces the town to do what he thinks are ridiculous things.
“Last year [DEP] forced us to essentially put a person up on the transfer station hill on our busy days due to such dangerous things as plastic pools, rubber hoses and Big Wheels,” Lee said. “It is just an endless list of litany things to force the cost up in this area.”
What brought a smile to Lee’s face however was Article 40 in which the town voted to appropriate $134,300 for a Capital Improvement Program Budget.
“This is where your tax dollars actually end up as pavement, sidewalks and trucks that put out fires,” he said. “I like seeing that and would love to put more money into the plan.”
Comments are no longer available on this story