Richard Doughty, a former selectman, proposes increases to hourly wages for some town employees Saturday morning during the annual town meeting held at the Weld Town Hall. Also seen is Melanie Wright, who was chosen to be the microphone runner during the meeting. Pam Harnden/Livermore Falls Advertiser

WELD — At the annual town meeting Saturday morning, voters debated at length a proposal that would provide residents with free day passes to Maine state parks before approving it. They also accepted two minor changes to the proposed budget.

A $5,000 annual donation in lieu of taxes is being offered by the George and Raymond Frank Foundation, which operates Camp Kawanhee for Boys, to establish an ongoing pass program.

Michael Graham asked about the amount of taxes the foundation had been paying.

Town Clerk Carol Cochran said it was about $15,000.

Graham noted the town was losing $10,000 per year in income and thought the $5,000 should be put toward the general fund instead of passes,

“Camp Kawanhee has been nonprofit for some time but has been paying taxes,” Richard Doughty, outgoing selectman said. “They were not tax exempt until this past year. This is the first year they didn’t pay taxes. The board of Camp Kawanhee approached the town, said they would like to do something in lieu of taxes and they would like to improve access to the lake. What they had proposed was they would provide $5,000 each year to establish a fund to help the town provide that access to the lake. They don’t have to give us anything.”

Doughty did not seek reelection this year. Steve Conant was elected to fill the three-year term on Feb. 25.

Selectperson Dina Walker noted Camp Kawanhee had specified how the money was to be used. “We as a town can reject that but you can’t change it,  just take the money and put it to some other use,” she stated. “It has to be used in the way that they have described it to us.”

“Camp Kawanhee has been a very good neighbor to all of us in town,” Laureen “Laurie” Pratt said. “I think it is a very nice gesture. They didn’t have to do anything.”

She noted lake access is only available to those who own a camp.

One lady asked where the money would go if the full $5,000 wasn’t used. She suggested using it for the town’s children.

“This article can not be changed, amended in the way we use the money,” Walker responded. “It has to be used the way that Camp Kawanhee indicated to us. If we choose no, the money goes back to Camp Kawanhee.”

When asked how the passes would be distributed, Walker said the Select Board will write a policy that will be fair for all. The Camp Kawanhee board will need to make sure the policy matches its goals, she noted.

“One proposal that was suggested by the board of directors of Camp Kawanhee was that we reserve a few passes that could be at the library or some place that people could sign them out to use for a day then bring back,” Doughty said. “We did check with the park service. There is precedence for that being done in other places.”

Webb Lake Association purchased single use passes last year that were available at the store, Lise Bofinger stated. “We were thinking of doing that again,” she said. “We don’t have $5,000 to give so it would be a smaller gift. We kind of held back on that to see what happens here.”

Tom Skolfield, resident and moderator, said the $5,000 would purchase roughly 50 passes good for any state park for day use.

Budget changes

Voters also amended three articles which added $254 under general government and $459 for the Transfer Station.

An amendment to the hourly wages paid town employees necessitated amendments to the budgeted amounts for general government and the Transfer Station.

“The Budget Committee did a great job,” Doughty said. “Some of our wages were below the state minimum wage and they adjusted those.” Proposed hourly wages for the buildings and ground attendant and the animal control officer were raised to $16.50, he noted.

“There are still two positions in town that are less than that,” Doughty said. “One of them is the Transfer Station attendant proposed at $16.07, the other is the ballot clerks proposed at $14.71 which is barely above the state minimum of $14.65. I would propose both be raised to $16.50 as well. The impact on the budget would be $459 for the Transfer Station attendant and $254 for the ballot clerks. It is a minimum impact on the budgets.”

The total budget approved for this year is $759,665, a decrease of $230,373 from the current spending plan.

More than 50 residents attended the meeting.