CALAIS – Voters are being asked to approve a budget of $1,693,548 at town meeting on March 5. That budget includes the purchase of a new road grader.
Select board comments about the budget note that it is “a larger increase than usual. We know this is hard; we’ve done our best to keep the increase to a minimum while not limiting our town’s ability to provide essential services. We note that many towns around us are facing double-digit increases this year. We have worked hard to keep the increase to about 7.5% over this year’s budget.”
Priorities for the select board when developing the budget included “fair and equitable compensation for our staff” and “Investing in reliable equipment for our road crew.” They said, “Once we felt these two items were adequately funded, we regretfully trimmed many requests for other items.”
Calais Town Administrator, Ken Bradley wrote in response to Gazette questions, “It is difficult to identify one single [factor that causes the most difficulty for controlling the town’s budget.] Compensating employees properly drives the budget, with medical insurance and wages/salaries being the key factors.”
Bradley expects no particular controversy at this year’s meeting, though he suggests there may be some disagreements about the school district’s proposed budget, which is a separate municipality.
Bradley says that they, “prioritize essential services including emergency services and road maintenance,” which helps make the town a good place for families to raise children. He expects next year’s town-wide planning process can help “identify opportunities” for affordable housing.
See the Town Meeting Planner elsewhere in this issue for meeting information.
