HARRISON — Selectmen held a special public hearing March 25, to review the draft of its annual town meeting warrant. Town Manager Tim Pellerin presented his draft for the municipal budget for fiscal year 2022.
The proposed budget calls for raising $848,750 from revenues for next year. Pellerin stated that the revenue budget for the current year is $812,270. The increase for next year is budgeted to be $36,480, or a 4.5% increase. Current receipts put revenues at 107% of budget, while at this time last year the town had collected 96% of its revenues.
Expenses by department are proposed as follows:
• $615,174 for Administration
• $663,941 for Public Works
• $145,565 for the Fire Department
• $321,771 for solid waste disposal
• $134,229 for Parks
• $146,369 for the Recreation Department
• $85,520 for Insurance
• $226,028 for the Public Safety Department
• $83,650 for Community Services
• $179,076 for Code Enforcement and Assessing
• $700,000 for Capital Roads. Pellerin noted that the account was reduced by $100,000 previously to compensate and balance the current budget. The increase will restore the cut funds. The budget allows for bond payments to be made and work to be done on roads but does not include operational costs.
• $500,000 for the Comprehensive Capital Reserve Account, which is chiefly for municipal infrastructure. The account was previously reduced by $134,000 to offset balancing the current budget; the amount is to be restored in the next fiscal year.
• $126,514 for additional Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department patrol duty. The increase allows the town to increase sheriff services from four days a week to seven. Harrison recently investigated creating its own department or contracting with Bridgton’s police department. Dropping sheriff patrols would create an additional expense of $40,000 for county dispatch services, a cost that is included in its current contract with Cumberland County.
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