AUBURN — If Androscoggin County wants a voting seat on the local council of governments, it will have to pay for it.
The cost: $6,580.
“I do not want the taxpayers to pay that fee,” County Commissioner Beth Bell said Wednesday after meeting with the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments. “They’re being taxed twice.”
Every one of Androscoggin County’s 14 towns are dues-paying members of the regional planning organization.
On Wednesday, the council’s Executive Committee met to talk about the county’s request for a waiver. No formal action was taken, Executive Director Robert Thompson said.
When the meeting ended, the county still held no voting rights on the AVCOG Executive Committee.
“The council of governments is supposed to be a place for people from different governments to sit down and talk,” Auburn Mayor Jonathan LaBonte said late Wednesday. Two years ago, while serving as a county commissioner, LaBonte represented the county. “It is completely arbitrary to say, ‘If you didn’t give us $7,000, you can’t have a seat.'”
The issue has been developing since last fall, when county commissioners added the dues to their proposed budget but were denied by the county’s Budget Committee.
Informal talks have been going ever since.
In August, County Commission Chairman Randall Greenwood sent a letter to AVCOG requesting that it retain its position on its Executive Committee despite no longer paying dues.
Communities in Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties pay according to a formula that considers both valuation and population. There is a base fee of $500 and a cap of $25,000. Lewiston and Auburn each pay the cap. The smallest fees are $1,000, paid by the towns of Avon, Byron, Carthage, Gilead, Hanover and Upton.
Not every town in the region is a member, though. In Franklin County, Temple, Industry and four plantations don’t pay. In Oxford County, the nonmembers include Oxford, Sweden and Fryeburg.
Oxford and Franklin counties are members. Oxford pays $4,910 this year. Franklin pays $3,030.
Dues to AVCOG account for about 11 percent of its $2.1 million budget. The biggest share, more than $875,000 or 41 percent, comes from federal grants.
County membership isn’t always charged, though.
At the Greater Portland Council of Governments, for instance, dues are not expected from Cumberland County. The county is an ex-officio voting member of its board.
Androscoggin County Commissioner Greenwood said he was surprised by AVCOG’s move.
He said he plans to talk with other commissioners and will likely poll the county’s towns to see what action they want to see.
“I think it’s important for the county to be part of regional planning,” he said.
To LaBonte, the county belongs there, whether or not it pays.
“It’s not costing anyone anything to have them sitting at the table,” he said.
dhartill@sunjournal.com
2012-2013 Executive Committee Members
President John Johnson, Jay
Vice President Stephen Eldridge, Lisbon
Treasurer Rhonda Irish, Wilton
Secretary Roland Miller, Auburn
Ed Barrett, City of Lewiston
Stephen Brown, Carthage
James Collins, Livermore Falls
Richard Davis, Farmington
James Doar, Bethel
David Duguay, Oxford County
Fred Hardy, Franklin County
Glen Holmes, Buckfield
Timothy Kane, Rangeley
Robert Kirchherr, Paris
Jonathan LaBonte, Auburn
John Madigan, Mexico
Phil Nadeau, Lewiston
Carlo Puiia, Rumford
Source: www.avcog.org
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