NORWAY — The Board of Selectmen have called a special town meeting for Thursday, June 27, in part to restore money to keep the Town Office open for business on a full-time basis.
The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. at the Town Office on Danforth Street to act on a six-article special town meeting warrant.
The move to restore some of the smaller cuts, such as Town Office hours, that were made at the town meeting on June 17 came after voters rejected the recommendations of the Board of Selectmen and the Budget Committee. They voted in more than $200,000 in additional funds for the fire, police and highway departments, as well as other accounts.
“Monday night kind of surprised me,” newly elected Selectman Bruce Cook said. “Voters were in a spending mood. If we’re going to restore cuts, let’s go all the way.”
The board agreed that another $14,000 should be restored to prevent the Town Office from reducing its hours and to restore stipends to the Board of Selectmen and possibly some of the $5,000 that Town Manager David Holt took from his own pay to help soften the other cuts.
Holt said Tuesday morning that a final tally of Monday’s annual town meeting appropriations showed voters added $207,764 over the selectmen’s recommendations and $166,566 over those of the Budget Committee. The action restored a full-time position in the Police Department, a full-time position in the Highway Department and created a full-time fire chief position.
A decision on whether residents will have to pay additional taxes to compensate for the town meeting voters’ actions still depends on whether the Legislature overrides Gov. Paul LePage’s threatened veto of the state budget.
Holt said it is quite likely another special town meeting will be held, depending on what happens at the state level.
“I think it makes little sense to make some (employees) take cuts when others won’t,” Holt said.
ldixon@sunjournal.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
