SWEDEN – After questioning why two town salaries jumped dramatically from last year – one from $1,929.89 to $16,900 – Sweden residents voted to not increase the salaries at all and to hold a special town meeting later to discuss the two positions.
“They have to be careful about their proposals,” resident Ron Sislane said about the selectmen’s request to increase the salaries of clerk and tax collector/treasurer. “And I don’t think they were.”
In this spirit, townspeople rejected the majority of selectmen’s budget requests at the annual town meeting Saturday, instead voting to approve amounts recommended by the budget committee, which were on the whole, lower.
Selectmen defended the salary raises by saying they wanted to adequately compensate town employees and to staff the new town office.
“I don’t like spending more money on taxes than anyone else, but somebody voted to build a big building across the street,” Selectman Warren Noble said about the new town office. Without funds to staff it, the building will now be empty, he added.
Town Administrative Assistant Diana Curtis – whose salary was not one of the two in dispute – said the two positions are essentially volunteer jobs done from home because they are paid so little. “You can’t ask people to do that,” she said. The town clerk received about $1,900 last year, while the treasurer received $6,739.40.
Ken Forde said the town’s budget committee, on which he serves didn’t support the selectmen’s request for the salary increases – or for many other budget requests, for that matter – because, “We’re trying to bring the town up slowly to where it should be.”
If the selectmen’s proposed budget had been approved, the tax rate would have increased by 30 cents, Forde said. Also, since that budget would have put Sweden over the state property tax levy, the town would have had to take a specific vote to approve that level of spending.
Residents said that selectmen should provide townspeople with job descriptions, hours needed and other details about the two jobs, as well as about the one of administrative assistant, and then have a public hearing to discuss how much the positions should be paid. Frances Flint is town treasurer, tax collector and excise tax collector; Kelley-Marie Lavoie is town clerk.
One resident pointed out that both employees are related to two members on the board of selectmen, but Noble said there is no conflict of interest.
After disputing how much to appropriate for roads, residents voted to spend $55,000 on maintenance, which is $7,000 less than what selectmen asked for, but $22,000 more than what the budget committee, which wanted to spread the repairs over several years, had recommended.
Residents also rejected the selectmen’s request of $118,745 for snow removal and sanding, accepting instead the $100,000 recommended by the budget committee.
Another contentious issue was the amount selectmen requested to buy a plot of land for the new fire department. Sislane said the town has ignored offers of donated land made over the years.
But Fire Chief Wayne Miller said, “We have not gotten any definitive `yes’ to free land.” He added that if the voters said `no’, the current fire department – which is in violation of state safety standards – would have to close.
Residents then approved spending $16,500 to buy a lot from Ellen Valley near the town office for the new fire department, and they also voted to forgive her unpaid back taxes by using money from the town fund for the poor.
Also, the budget committee recommended denying funds to two local service agencies, Community Concepts and Senior Plus. Neither, the committee said, had issued a financial statement, which is mandated by town ordinance, with its request for town funding.
Citizens agreed and voted not to give Senior Plus $100 or Community Concepts $730. Community Concepts sent a letter to the town saying the services it provided Sweden last year amounted to between $11,000 and $12,000.
A new selectman, James Willey, was elected to replace Warren Noble, whose term has ended.
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