DIXFIELD — Residents voted 43-11 to approve a recommended $342,598 Police Department budget during Monday evening’s annual town meeting, which will be voted on by secret ballot during the June 10 referendum.

After last year’s town meeting, a straw poll indicated the majority of residents preferred to vote on the budget at the polls after the town meeting. At the March 17 board meeting, it was decided to have the budget vote at the polls instead of by a show of hands at the town meeting.

Both the Board of Selectmen and the Budget Committee recommended $342,598 for the Police Department, which is a $5,626 increase over the previous year.

Resident Sonya Fuller originally made a motion for a $277,598 Police Department budget, explaining that the decrease in the budget would come from a police officer position.

Interim Town Manager Eugene Skibitsky told Fuller that the town was currently in the third year of a COPS grant, which allows the Dixfield Police Department to receive funding for a fifth police officer for three years, and in return, the town would agree to pay the salary of the officer for the fourth year.

“There’s a ‘maintenance of effort’ clause within that grant, which basically tells us that we can’t reduce the size of our force while the grant is in effect,” Skibitsky said. “I’m not sure if that means you’d have to refund the government the entire grant if you decided to cut that officer’s position, but as far as I know, we’re locked into that grant.”

Police Chief Richard Pickett told Fuller and Skibitsky that the grant officially ended on Dec. 31, 2015, and that if the town rescinded on the grant, they would have to pay back the entirety of what the federal government lent to Dixfield.

After several minutes of discussion, resident Norine Clarke made a motion to amend Fuller’s original motion to $342,598, the amount that the selectmen and Budget Committee originally recommended.

Pickett thanked the selectmen and Budget Committee for “unanimously approving my recommendation during the budget process.”

“It wasn’t something they came to easily,” Pickett clarified. “They went through this thing with a fine-tooth comb, and I just wanted to thank them for coming to the decision that they came to.”

He then explained to residents that the increase in the 2014-2015 budget was due to the fact that he had to budget extra money in certain line items.

“I heard you guys loud and clear last year,” Pickett told residents. “You said you wanted a lower budget, and I did something that they don’t teach you to do when making a budget — giving money back. I turned back $9,000 from last year’s budget, because I understood where you were coming from.

“There was a small increase in my budget compared to last year, but not much,” Pickett said. “A lot of the things that I had to increase were out of my control.”

Pickett said that there was an increase of $1,000 in hiring costs, “because there’s an officer who may be leaving before too long, and we want to hold the five positions that we have right now.”

“The $1,000 will help cover the costs of a polygraph, a psych evaluation and all the things that are a part of a complete and thorough background check,” Pickett said.

Pickett continued, explaining that there was an increase in the cost of radar certification, something that the Police Department is required to do every year, and that there was a $1,500 increase in fuel costs, in an effort to keep up with inflation rates.

“I can assure you that if there’s a way I can put money back into the budget next year, I’ll put it back in,” Pickett said.

Residents also voted to approve the selectmen’s and Budget Committee’s recommendation of $297,667 for the town’s Executive Department budget.

Fuller asked Skibitsky why the town hadn’t considered investing in a “part-time town manager.”

“He or she could come in every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and we could save money,” Fuller said. “Is that something that you guys have looked into or considered?”

Skibitsky replied, “We’re going to have a very busy construction year coming up. There’s the new sidewalk being built between Nash Street and the middle school, the sidewalk rehabilitation between the Bangor Savings Bank and the nursing home and the huge project we have on Pine and High streets. With all of those projects going on, you’re going to want a full-time town manager to make sure everything runs smoothly.

“Whoever the selectmen choose as their town manager is going to be a very busy person, and you’ll probably want to wait until those projects are completed before looking into a part-time position,” Skibitsky said. “After? Let’s look at it.”

Residents also voted to approve the following municipal committee members:

* Anthony Bucci, Denise Kidder and Eric Therriault to three-year terms on the Finance Committee.

* Malcolm Gill to a three-year term on the Ione Harlow Scholarship Committee.

* William DeVries and Maureen Houle to three-year terms on the Ludden Memorial Library Board of Trustees.

* Gerald Stone and Brenda Turbide to three-year terms on the Water Advisory board.

mdaigle@sunjournal.com

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