SABATTUS – Voters at town meeting Saturday will be asked to approve a budget that is 3 percent higher than last year’s.
Selectmen had aimed to keep the figures tight, but they didn’t expect the state to back out of an agreement to pay the town $200,000 toward the construction of the Sabattus Central School, said Gino Camardese, chairman of the Board of Selectmen.
“What essentially happened is that the state cut its funding, causing the town to swallow the difference,” Camardese said “What was going to be a $5.3 million budget became a $5.5 million budget.”
The budget also has a slight increase for a new pay-scale system. Selectmen are asking voters to appropriate a 6 percent total increase for all town departments combined to allow officials to set salaries and competitive wages.
“This is where the Budget Committee and selectmen differ slightly,” Camardese said. “We want to put this new system to work so that next year we will know dollar for dollar where our money will go.”
The increase would go toward a 3 percent cost of living increase and an additional 3 percent to spread among various jobs, he said.
It would not cover the Police Department, which falls under union contract. However, there is an article that asks voters to allow a study to look at the possibility of contracting police services from the county and dismantling the Sabattus Police Department. The free, one-year study would be conducted by the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department.
“This article is just for a quote, nothing would be done until after the study and the town had a chance to vote on it,” Camardese said. “It may save us a few hundred thousand dollars and essentially, the only thing that would change is our current officers’ uniform.”
He said if the transition were to occur, a sergeant’s position would be created to oversee the division. “That would most likely be offered up to our current police chief, Thomas Fales,” Camardese said. “But first we want to compare apples to apples to make sure we are getting everything our department offers now and nothing less.”
Voters will have the opportunity to vote on the town’s Comprehensive Plan, something selectmen said the voters have not had a chance to vote on in 20 years.
“This is an outline of goals and where we want our town to be in 10 years,” Camardese said. “People have to understand that this plan is just a guideline and that nothing is cast in stone.”
Go and do
What: Sabattus town meeting
When: 9 a.m. Saturday, May 21
Where: Sabattus Central School gymnasium
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