FARMINGTON – Members of the county’s Budget Committee held a public hearing Thursday evening, with residents and county officials offering comments on $6.56 million in proposed expenditures for the next fiscal year.
The $6,561,620 figure represents the budget that emerged from a previous committee meeting, during which members took a preliminary vote prior to Thursday’s public hearing. The committee will be taking their final vote on each cost center at the May 31 meeting; the budget will then go to the commissioners for their final review.
In that initial vote, the committee changed four county department budgets from the budget presented by the commissioners. Specifically, the committee removed $3,000 from IT Services, added $1,000 to the Jail budget, subtracted $10,250 from the Communications budget and added $18,750 to the Program Grants budget.
Typically a subject of significant discussion, Program Grants includes funds for outside, nonprofit agencies that receive county support. Last year’s, $6.21 million budget included major reductions to that cost center, distributing $61,200 of $209,000 in requests. A number of agencies were cut entirely; those agencies were not considered for funding this year.
That resulted in five programs making requests this year. Two of them – Franklin County Soil & Water and the Franklin County Fireman’s Association – were both recommended to be funded at the requested level by both the commissioners and committee: $20,000 and $3,700, respectively. Seniors Plus, which received $10,000 in funds last year and requested $30,000 this year, was funded at $5,000 by both the commissioners and committee.
The commissioners and committee disagree on the two last programs: Western Maine Community Action and Western Maine Transportation. Commissioners recommended funding those agencies at the respective amounts of $10,000 and $3,750 – reductions from last year’s levels of $20,000 for WMCA and $7,500 for Western Maine Transportation. The committee’s preliminary vote, however, indicated a preference to set WMCA’s funding at $25,000 and Western Maine Transportation’s funding at $7,500. That would result in a combined Program Grants budget of $61,200 – the same as last year’s – and an increase over the commissioners’ proposed $42,450 budget for Program Grants.
In comments made to the committee Thursday evening, Craig Zurhorst, representing Western Maine Transportation, and Bill Crandall, speaking on behalf of WMCA, both thanked the committee for not continuing to cut back county funding for their programs. Crandall passed out copies of the preamble to the state constitution which, under “Objects of government” lists, among other things, the need to “promote our common welfare.”
“This is one of the objectives of government,” Crandall said of WMCA’s role in the community, citing the improvement of homes to save energy costs and reduce the likelihood of fire.
Commissioner Charlie Webster of Farmington said that he disagreed with the committee’s vote, indicating that he had supported the phasing out of funding such agencies over a three-year period, with 2018-19 marking the second year of that process. He said that he did not believe that towns should be forced to support the programs, and that funding decisions should instead be made on a town-by-town basis. He would not be party to allowing the committee to force the funding of the Program Grants and increase the tax rate, Webster said, adding that he would decline to sign a warrant to dispense such funds. He noted that the other two commissioners would be making their own determinations.
Committee member and Strong Selectman Mike Pond said that while he respected Webster he felt the commissioner may be “a little out of line” with his remarks. The budget committee had to be allowed to have its input into the process, Pond said.
Two Wilton residents also spoke at the hearing, taking opposite positions on the issue. Gwen Doak said that she “vehemently disagreed” that the services of agencies such as WMCA were not a function of the government. Sherrill Brann, however, said that agencies were often collecting federal and state funds, in addition to the county funding, and that she should have the the right to support charitable endeavors of her own choosing.
Speaking on behalf of Seniors Plus, Chief Operating Officer Holly Zielinski said that support for the agency had eroded from $34,000 down to $5,000 over the years. The reduction would impact services, Zielinski said, potentially creating wait times for clients.
The hearing, moderated by Farmington Selectman Josh Bell, moved swiftly through most of the proposed budget with little public comment. Responding to a question from the audience, Sheriff Scott Nichols said an increase between the originally-proposed $1.65 million sheriff’s office budget and the $1.77 million supported by both commissioners and the committee related to the recently-completed contract negotiations with the Fraternal Order of Police. That contract includes $1 per hour increases applied during each of the three years, as well as offering an on-call stipend, a small increase to overtime pay and capping the amount of personal time deputies could accrue.
Director of Communications Stanley Wheeler questioned the committee’s preliminary budget, which removed $10,250 from the Communications capital reserve and furniture lines. That reserve covered the replacement of items such as the dispatch center workstations, at $13,000 each, or the $15,000 recording system.
David Fuller, representing the UMaine Cooperative Extension Program, said that reducing their budget of $51,268 down to $50,000 – a reduction supported by both commissioners and committee members – would impact their “bare bones” operation which supports 4-H, agriculture assistance and home food programs.
The committee will vote on the budget at the May 31 meeting in the Franklin County Courthouse at 6 p.m. That budget will then be reviewed by commissioners, who can implement changes with unanimous votes. Commissioner changes can then be vetoed by the committee with a two-thirds majority vote.
