HARRISON – With a fair amount of grumbling about what some residents called unnecessary spending, voters chose to not hire a second police officer, not to spend more on snow removal next year, and not to entertain a future town garage.
“Here we go again, spending money we don’t need to spend,” Eddie Rolfe said, when discussion began on whether to contract a second full-time deputy for the town. Rolfe repeated this refrain, in different words, throughout the meeting, which began at 6:30 p.m. and ended at 9 p.m.
When it was over, townspeople voted to trim the proposed budget by about $30,000, cutting out $19,000 for sidewalk snow removal and $11,050 from nonprofit agencies.
The $113,540 the town had suggested for an additional police officer – and which townspeople rejected – had not been calculated into the final requested budget.
The amount to be collected from taxes next year will be under $1.5 million, after $413,500 is raised from town revenue to offset taxes.
Voters supported spending $100,000 to buy a new fire truck bed for a tank to sit on.
Voters rejected a request by the Lake Region Development Council for $10,000 to spend on office supplies and administrative costs, slashing the amount to zero. They did the same for nonprofit agencies nobody knew anything about, like Combat, UPC of Maine, and Woodford Family Service.
Although Rolfe recommended not funding the Growth Council – the economic development group in Oxford Hills – with $5,000, voters chose to support the group, although it was a close vote.
Opposition was raised over the issue of the town garage. Town Manager Michael Thorne said the two-bay garage, built in the 1960s, is outdated and a bigger garage is needed to shelter Harrison’s trucks and equipment.
Bill Winslow suggested building a pole barn, which several people verbally supported. Rolfe said the $50,000 that had been raised over the past five years at town meetings to pay for architectural and design costs of a new garage be used instead to pay for a pole barn.
Townspeople voted to prohibit small engine repair shops from the aquifer zone and to not accept a subdivision road called Homestead Lane.
They also voted to not give selectmen the right to transfer surplus funds to cover overdrafts of other accounts.
Comments are no longer available on this story