Newcastle residents use electronic voting pads to vote on a proposed article on Monday, June 16. The annual town meeting will be conducted via referendum next year after voters approved the switch at the polls June 10. (Ali Juell photo)
In less than two hours, Newcastle voters approved a $3.6 million municipal budget at Lincoln Academy’s cafeteria on Monday, June 16.
Residents passed every budget article for a total of $3,592,222, a $198,546.50 or 5.85% increase from last year.
The largest portion of the municipal budget was $1,028,500 appropriated for reserve accounts, a $40,535 or 3.79% decrease from last year. Included in that total was a $900,000 capital road improvement bond, which voters approved at the polls June 10 and further considered Monday night.
Town Manager Kevin Sutherland said the bond could be put to use if the state’s biennial budget bill is repealed through a people’s veto, which Republicans are currently trying to get on the November ballot.
On March 26, Rep. Gary Drinkwater, R-Milford, filed an application for a people’s veto referendum, seeking to stop the budget that was passed, which would halt most state government operations and programs, including new and ongoing state funding for cities, towns, and schools.
Supporters of the effort have until 5 p.m. on Wednesday, June 18 to submit at least 67,682 valid signatures of Maine voters to the Maine Secretary of State’s office to put the issue on the November ballot.
If the bond funds were approved for an alternative use at a special town meeting, Sutherland said the allocation could cover a state funding shortage.
Several residents spoke out against the bond, saying the town’s spending on roads is too high and the ballot measure’s language should have communicated its potential use as a stopgap for revenue shortfalls.
“It is for us to use up to $900,000,” select board member Karen Leavitt Paz said. “We are not going to go get a bond for $900,000 without any reason or recourse … We’re only looking at bonding things to help with taxes.”
Resident Roger Wilcox proposed an amendment to reduce the possible bond amount within the reserve accounts article to $500,000. The amendment failed.
The article related to reserve accounts, which included the $900,000 bond, passed at its full amount of $1,028,500 with a vote of 40-12.
The $975,911 public works budget passed 34-18; the smallest majority of any article for the night. The category’s $163,461 or 20.12% increase comes from a change in the town’s snow removal contract as well as time and material rate increases, Sutherland said.
The change resulted from the town’s former snow dumping site at 40 Main St. in Damariscotta becoming inaccessible, according to previous reporting by The Lincoln County News.
The town held a contract with the former owner of the property at 40 Main St., which allowed for the disposal of snow from Main Street in Newcastle into the Damariscotta River at that location. The town also had a snow disposal permit from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to dump snow into the river at that location.
Newcastle Select board member Ben Frey (standing) explains the proposed general government budget during the annual town meeting in the Lincoln Academy dining commons on Monday, June 16. Town Manager Kevin Sutherland (center) and select board member Rufus Percy also helped explain the budget articles, which totaled $3.6 million. (Ali Juell photo)
The property changed hands in summer 2023, and the new owner has not expressed interest in maintaining the agreement, Sutherland said in December 2024.
The change in the contract included new snow removal methods, such as blowing large quantities of snow into the river, which required Hagar Enterprises Inc., which the town contracts with for snow removal, to purchase new equipment.
Last December, voters approved a transfer of $115,000 from the roads capital project account to a winter maintenance line in the public works category to pay for the contract change
The majority of the articles passed without much discussion. During a June 9 select board meeting, Sutherland said a summing error caused some of the budget category totals to be inaccurate in previous releases. Voters at the open gathering received a handout with the corrected numbers.
The general government allocation was proposed and passed at $689,633, a $6,465 or 0.94% increase.
Included in the general government category is the town’s contract with its assessor’s agent, Jim Murphy, which expires at the end of the 2025 fiscal year. The new contract totals $36,000, an increase of $9,600 or 36.36%.
The public safety budget is $295,988, up $10,357.50 or 3.63%, mainly due to a recent increase in the Great Salt Bay Sanitary District’s water rate for fire hydrants.
The debt service budget is $247,916, down $1,941 or 0.78%.
The community and public services budget is $232,596, up $29,732 or 14.66%, due to an increase in Newcastle’s contribution to the Nobleboro-Jefferson Transfer Station. The transfer station board approved a budget of $635,361, a decrease of $45,071 or 6.62% from last year, during a meeting in January. Newcastle’s share is $150,129.53, up $6,430.39 or 4.28%.
Newcastle will shift to holding its annual town meeting by referendum next year, after voters narrowly decided to forgo a public gathering at the polls June 10. The option to vote in an open forum will be proposed again in 2026.
“Just because people voted to have the town meeting by ballot next year does not mean it’s going to be that way forever,” Paz said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
