LIVERMORE FALLS – Selectmen still have no completed budget to present to voters, but they have agreed on a place to hold the June 11 annual town meeting.
The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the high school cafeteria instead of the library auditorium because a larger than usual attendance is expected because of controversy over proposed expenditures.
Among the controversial articles is the ambulance subsidy, with selectmen suggesting $34,710 while Russell Flagg, candidate for selectman, said Monday night he will be voting for no subsidy.
“That amount of money is just buying 15 minutes,” he said, referring to the time it takes an ambulance to get to town from Franklin Memorial Hospital.
Flagg’s plan is to have police and firefighters trained as first responders who will answer emergency calls and summon an ambulance, if needed. Even with the subsidy, there will be a bill from the ambulance, he stated.
Bernal Lake, also a board candidate and chairman of the Budget Committee, reported his group has recommended no action on the ambulance subsidy.
Differing opinions also abound over the police and dispatch budgets, with the board opting for no sergeant and less overlap for police and 16-hour (two shifts) local dispatch, while the Budget Committee recommends full funding for both. The total difference is about $28,000.
Selectmen and the Budget Committee have agreed to go with Treasurer Kristal Flagg’s proposal for a 1 percent discount for those who pay their entire tax bills early, to improve cash flow and, perhaps, avoid borrowing tax anticipation funds.
Both groups recommend a five-man force for highway at $264,910, but Selectman Clayton Putnam has his own proposal, which would have just one shift of local dispatch with cuts to the police budget as well as only four men on the highway crew.
“We need to develop efficiencies,” he said of his proposal.
Miriam Buchanan said, “It’s not fair to dump something like this on people at town meeting, they’re going to be confused.”
Lake agreed that these issues need to be ironed out to present to the people. “The savings we’re arguing about are uncertainties,” he said.
Selectmen will hold another special meeting at 6 p.m. Monday to conclude their budget discussion, Selectman Bill Demaray said.
In other action Fire Chief Ken Jones complained about not being informed about his budget.
“I make a presentation, then I don’t hear anything back from the board. When does the person in charge of the department get to know what’s going on?” he asked.
Jones explained he couldn’t attend budget discussions because he has a hard time sitting through an entire meeting and that he has children involved in activities. “I’m doing a lot,” he said.
Library Association President Roger Ouellette will provide the board with figures on the amount his group has in certificates of deposit. His first figure of $4,000 was challenged as their budget listed $1,100 in interest earned this year, a very large amount in these times of low interest.
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