LIVERMORE FALLS – Selectmen on Friday scheduled an emergency meeting for Monday to discuss a money shortage in the Municipal Solid Waste budget.
In an effort to save money, taxpayers at the July 10 special town meeting voted to decrease the amount requested by the department by more than $31,000, from nearly $216,000 to just over $184,000.
Speakers who addressed the town during discussion of the motion said the decrease wouldn’t hurt the department. They thought insurance and payroll costs in other articles could be moved from other departments to make up the difference.
Not so, selectmen say. Town Manager Martin Puckett said Friday that the motion decreasing the budget did not say anything about taking money from other departments.
“The townspeople voted to move it to $184,000. They intentionally removed $31,000 from the budget,” Puckett said.
On Monday, selectmen will meet to review the department’s budget. “Due to the cuts, we’re going to have to evaluate how many hours per week we can stay open.”
There will be no special town meeting to raise more money or to move funds from other departments over to fix the budget. “It was already voted upon,” Puckett said. “That’s something that will have to be requested to the selectboard.”
“That is so full of crap it’s not funny, because the money is there,” town resident Joyce Drake said Friday afternoon. Her voice shook slightly on the phone. “They are playing a game,” she said.
“If they don’t feel Clayton (Putnam’s) motion was legal enough, they could have a special town meeting. But they don’t want to go there,” she said.
“They are so ticked off that their hands got slapped – not for what they did, but for the way they did it.” She said she spoke with Putnam, who made the original motion, this week. He made the motion with an explanation of where the money would come from as part of the motion, she said.
Putnam agreed. “Sounds like they didn’t understand what I was saying,” he said. He said he plans to attend Monday’s meeting to explain his intent, but said he doesn’t think the selectmen are bound to obey his wishes, in the end.
“Because we don’t have a line-item budget, they’re not bound by the intent of my motion. They really do have a free will,” he said Friday. “The only way they become accountable is through the ballot box,” he said.
But he thinks they have good intentions, he said. “I don’t think our selectmen are mean-spirited people, or that they’re trying to circumvent what the townspeople said they wanted at the meeting. They’re doing what they think is best for the community,” he said.
What the people want is what matters, Drake said.
“The people’s voice spoke out. We want the dump open full time,” she said.
The meeting is set to start at 6:30 p.m. Monday, July 31, at the Town Office. It is open to the public.
Comments are no longer available on this story