NEW GLOUCESTER – Selectmen on Monday reviewed the proposed $6,806,396 municipal budget for 2006-07, restoring money for social services and supplemental insurance for fire and rescue workers.
A budget advisory panel recommended cutting money for 16 social service agencies to $2,200, but selectmen disagreed and restored the $11,860. Agencies include Androscoggin Home Health, Peoples Regional Opportunity Program, Tri-County Mental Health, Regional Transportation, Salvation Army, Royal River Youth Conservation Corps and The American Red Cross.
The Fire Department request of $179,870 was cut by selectmen to $129,600. The cuts include money for a full-time fire chief and paying additional stipends to fire and rescue personnel.
Part-time Fire Chief Gary Sacco convinced selectmen to restore $1,500 for supplemental insurance beyond workers’ compensation for the fire and rescue workers.
Town Manager Rosemary Kulow said, “This is offered to fire and rescue who are not paid as much as regular employees.”
An additional $8,000 was restored for fire and rescue personnel to be distributed by Kulow and Sacco.
Selectmen initially worked on firefighter and rescue compensation but never completed the task.
“We started down the path, but didn’t get to the place we wanted,” Selectman Kevin Sullivan said. “We need to do something to recognize the members who deserve to be compensated higher than where they are now.”
Selectmen set June 10 as a deadline to resolve the issue.
Selectmen agreed to use $605,000 from an undesignated fund balance to keep the municipal tax rate down.
The budget calls for raising $990,577 from taxpayers, with revenues estimated at $2,303,375, which includes the Pineland Tax Increment Financing payments from October Corp. at Pineland.
In the past 10 years New Gloucester’s assessed valuation has risen from $166,090,600 in 1996 to $437,533,800. This is attributed to a hot real estate market with new development of single family dwellings townwide. In addition, the redevelopment of Pineland anticipates an annual tax payment next year of roughly $245,000.
In other business, selectmen will ask voters to approve participating in the Cumberland County housing and community development programs of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. New Gloucester’s population of roughly 5,000 would be included in the calculations of Cumberland County’s funds by HUD.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.