Today is the start of Maine’s annual town meeting season. It’s our opportunity to have a direct say in municipal budgets, and to influence municipal policies and ordinances.
It’s an opportunity to engage in debate with our neighbors and to exercise our right to self-govern.
Local towns scheduled to meet this morning include Minot, Stoneham, Eustis, Strong, Weld, Greene and New Sharon.
Newry voters will convene on Monday evening, and will consider a budget that is just $2,221 more than last year’s budget. The increase is due to changes in insurance and wages, but Town Administrator Loretta Powers is correct to say that’s a “pretty mild” increase in this resort town.
We congratulate Newry for its spending restraint.
In Greene, voters will consider the Budget Committee’s recommendation to eliminate the much-beloved 5 percent discount for early property-tax payments.
A current resident whose property is valued at $252,200, facing a $3,349 tax bill, could save $167 by paying that bill early.
It’s no windfall, but it might be enough to pay this year’s vehicle excise tax.
The purpose of the discount program, which has been in effect for about 20 years, is to build early cash flow in town coffers. Every so often, someone has discussed eliminating the discount, but the suggestion has never gone anywhere.
This year, it has.
What will make this vote interesting is that, while the Budget Committee recommends elimination, the Board of Selectmen does not.
Voters will get to decide for themselves whether to maintain this attractive tax incentive for themselves and their neighbors, making this a true community decision.
The town meeting schedule involving hundreds of Maine towns stretches out beyond Saturday and will last until well into summer. We encourage citizens to participate in this special forum of direct rule.
You want input on your property taxes? Here’s your chance to raise your hand and be counted.
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Cheers to Denis D’Auteuil, deputy Public Works director in Auburn, for pitching a worthy idea for spring.
Over the past several years, Auburn has struggled to maintain a budget for spring cleanup, limiting the kinds of waste, furniture and other material that could be left for curbside collection in 2009 and cancelling collections altogether in 2010. Once cancellation was announced, residents complained and collections were reinstated — for a $20-per-household fee.
Collection fees were suspended last year, but labor costs and disposal fees make spring cleanup an expensive proposition for taxpayers. The cost must be balanced by the very real benefit of residents having curbside collection, especially for those who don’t have the means to haul bulky waste to the Mid-Maine Waste Action Corp. in Auburn.
D’Auteuil has proposed using some of the snowplowing budget — the surplus created by lack of snow and the reduced need to plow during the past four months — to fund spring cleanup 2012.
It’s a good idea. Winter isn’t over and we may get more snow, but with spring only 18 days away, cleanup is right around the corner.
jmeyer@sunjournal.com
The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and the editorial board.
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