One Ramp To Go, Please

Workers from Harold MacQuinn, Inc. carefully lift the wheelchair ramp away from the building in an effort to fix the pitch of the ramp. The Secretary of State's Office said the ramp was too steep to meet voter accessibility guidelines. The fix is part of a larger project to make the town hall more accessible. A revamped handrail comes next.

Work Begins on 2007 Budget

(Lamoine) — Lamoine's Budget Committee will begin reviewing budgets for 2006/2007 this month. The budgeting process is expected to be a difficult time this year due to the constraints of the property tax caps imposed by the Maine Legislature in a bill dubbed LD-1. That bill prevented the town from using any property tax for non-education, non-county portions of the budgets initially approved in March 2005. Voters rejected an article to increase the base amount of property tax for the municipal budget at a special town meeting in April, so a series of budget cuts was approved by special referendum in June.

With the constraints that funds to run the municipal side of the budget must come from sources other than property taxes the instruction from the Budget Committee has been to develop the budget necessary to run the town, and the committee will explore whether any appropriation from property taxes will be needed. The biggest strains on the municipal budget are expected to be energy related as the price of oil continues to skyrocket. Heating and electricity bills along with staff mileage are expected to post large increases from the current FY2006 budget. With the inflationary factors nearing 5-percent, the few salaries paid to regular employees are projected to rise to keep pace with the cost of living.

The Budget Committee will hear its first budget proposals on October 24th, with two meetings planned in November & December, and the school budget will be heard in January.

Your Opinions Sought In November

(Lamoine) — Lamoine's Long Range Planning Committee has developed a questionnaire that will be made available to all voters and property owners in November. The questions deal with a variety of town issues and seek to find out what folks think about the town's future. The final product is still being developed. The initial drafts contained 39 questions on 5-pages. The questions include items about roads, solid waste, land uses, the school, property taxes and general government structure.

The committee plans to have the questionnaire ready to hand out to voters after they cast ballots on Election Day (November 8th). An on-line version will also be available for those with Internet Access. A flyer with this year's tax bills promoted the questionnaire ahead of time, and several people have indicated they wish to be polled. The results will be compiled during the winter months, and should help many departments and committees with the future direction of Lamoine.

Election Day is November 8th

(Lamoine) — The traditional 1st Tuesday in November for Election Day will actually be the 2nd Tuesday this year. That's because the law reads the first Tuesday following the first Monday. There will be two ballots to cast this year—one was a surprise to nearly every municipal clerk in Hancock County.

The bigger ballot contains 7-questions that all Mainers will vote on. Question 1 asks whether Mainers wish to overturn the new law that adds sexual orientation to the classes of people protected from discrimination.

Questions 2-through-6 are bond issues, including $33.1 million for transportation, $8.9 million for water protection, $20-million for job creation, $12-million for purchasing public land, and $9-million to make improvements at the University of Maine system. The final question asks Mainers to amend the Constitution to allow assessments for waterfront land to be made based on current use in a manner similar to tree growth, open space, and farm land.

The other ballot was the surprise. Hancock County Commissioners are asking voters whether they wish to change the Treasurer's position from one that is elected to an appointed position. Town Clerks received absentee ballots from the Secretary of State with no forewarning from the County the last week of September. A later mailing from County Clerk Ray Bickford said the referendum questions was posed by the County Commissioners and supported by Treasurer Sally Crowley.

Polls in Lamoine will be open from 10am until 8pm at the Town Hall. Absentee ballots are already available for those who are not able to make it to the Town Hall on Election Day. Ballots may be requested in person or by telephone. No local election will be held in November.

Town Hall Floor May Be Carpeted

(Lamoine) — The meeting room floor in the Lamoine Town Hall is quickly flaking apart. Over 100-years of use on the softwood floor has finally taken its toll. With meetings at least 5-nights a month and sometimes nearly every evening, and daily traffic of surveyors, real estate agents and the like, the wood has crumbled.

When the floor was re-stained several years ago, painting contractor Tom McIntyre warned it would not survive another sanding. Selectmen have asked to look into putting carpeting on top of the wood. That item will be included in the FY 2007 budget.

Committee Shrinks

(Lamoine) - The formerly huge Long Range Planning Committee has been trimmed down. Once numbering 23, Selectmen eliminated 10-members who had not attended the previous five meetings. The Selectmen thanked each for their service and asked those removed if they still wished to serve to contact the Board. So far no one removed asked to be reinstated.

Trash Weights Continue To Drop

(Lamoine) - After years of increasing trash amount sent to the Penobscot Energy Recovery Company in Orrington, Lamoine's trash amount has taken a nose-dive. Through the end of September, the amount of trash was down 25% from the same time in 2004.

The sharp decrease followed the revelation late in 2004 that commercial waste had been mixed in with the transfer station trash for an unspecified amount of time. Pine Tree Waste and the Selectmen reached a settlement on that, and going forward the regular trash has apparently been well segregated. Recycling may also be helping reduce the household trash load.

The reduction in trash will likely translate in to about a $7,200 annual savings in disposal fees.

Selectmen Adjust Mileage Rate

(Lamoine) — Selectmen agreed in principle on a new mileage reimbursement policy for town employees who use their personal vehicles for town business. Retroactive to July 1st, employees will receive 37-cents per mile, up from 32-cents/mile.

The figure is a hybrid of the allowed rate by the Internal Revenue Service (.40/mile as of 7/1/05) and the State of Maine (.34/mile under a collective bargaining agreement). The IRS raised its rate effective September 1st to .48/mile until 1/1/06 in the wake of steep gasoline prices.

Under the policy expected to be approved October 6th the mileage rate will be set annually by the Selectmen at their first meeting of the fiscal year using the same formula.