FORT FAIRFIELD, Maine — The 2022 budget councilors approved without knowing its details does not reflect taxpayers’ needs, according to a residents advisory group.
The advisory group was meant to help councilors pass a budget that townspeople felt they could afford, after many saw tax bills increase 25 percent or more in 2020 as a result of Fort Fairfield’s first revaluation in 20-plus years. They asked town officials to curb future spending and mill rate increases, fearing they were being taxed off their properties.
When councilors passed spending the next year that included an expensive new ambulance service, more taxpayers said town leaders were not listening and that increased public participation would make the annual budgets fairer. So the town council voted 3-2 to form a resident budget advisory committee to make recommendations, leaving the final vote to the elected councilors.
But the advisory committee said this week there has been little interaction between councilors and the residents group. To make matters worse, the councilors themselves have still not seen the complete breakdown of the budget they approved.
A majority of town councilors in June approved a municipal budget for which they had a final number but no details on departmental expenses. Despite frequent attempts, councilors have yet to receive a complete set of figures from the town manager, revealing how dysfunctional the town’s budget process has become since recent controversy over property tax revaluations.
In late June, the council voted 3-2 in favor of a $5,258,950 municipal budget, with a projected revenue of $6,494,535. When the county and school tax contributions of $277,209 and $2,203,432, respectively, are included, the total budget is $7,739,591, a $676,026 increase over last year’s of $7,063,565.
But councilors did not discuss the budget advisory committee’s recommendation that Town Manager Andrea Powers work with municipal officials to reduce department costs. Based on their projected tax revenue, the committee recommended increasing last year’s budget by $470,000, which would have raised the mill rate from 19.5 to 22.5.
The approved budget gives a projected tax rate closer to 26 mills, according to Councilor Jim Ouellette, who voted against the total budget that Powers presented on June 28. The town votes on the mill rate in September.
The projected mill rate remains uncertain because Powers did not provide councilors with a departmental breakdown of the $5.2 million municipal budget, Ouellette said. Instead, she told councilors that she and department officials would decide how to divide that total among the departments.
Powers also said that councilors would see the budget figures on or before their Aug. 17 meeting, Ouellette said. Although he has tried multiple times to reach Powers and obtain budget figures, he has been unsuccessful, he said Wednesday.
“In my opinion, the town budget should not be voted on without the town councilors seeing the final version of the detailed budget sheets,” Ouellette said.
The councilors failed to recognize the burden the budget would place on taxpayers, said Budget Advisory Committee Chair Jason Barnes.
A retired accountant and former town councilor, Barnes initially opposed creating an advisory committee because he said the council should work toward a budget compromise with Powers and department heads.
But he changed his mind after residents made him aware of the growing costs of the town’s new ambulance service, which launched in 2020.
On Wednesday, the Fort Fairfield town office said that Powers was out of town and unable to answer questions regarding 2022 budget projections, including ambulance services. Town Tax Collector Ella Leighton said that she and other staff were not authorized to release that information.
In 2021, the town’s combined fire and EMS department budget was $1,382,675 compared with $1,097,888 in 2020.
Residents have argued that the higher per-capita cost — $332, as opposed to $100 or less in larger towns — has placed a burden on them while the EMS service has grown in staff and purchased new equipment.
For committee member and former pharmacist Kevin Bouchard, the recent tax revaluation and increasing mill rate are sticking points.
Though Fort Fairfield decreased its mill rate from 20.50 per $1,000 of property value in 2020 to 19.5 in 2021, Bouchard said that the potential tax rate increase for this year defeats the work that the committee set out to do.
He withdrew his support for the committee’s recommended mill rate of 22.5, questioning the projected budget figures from councilors. Most councilors did not attend committee meetings or provide opinions on the budget calculations.
But Ouellette, one of the newest councilors and a nearly 50-year resident of Fort Fairfield who attended most committee meetings, said that he gave members the town’s most recent financial figures.
Along with newly elected councilor Kevin Pelletier, Ouellette voted in favor of creating the budget committee but against the town’s 2022 budget.
Both Pelletier and Ouellette spoke publicly against town spending and the tax revaluation long before being elected. Ouellette and his wife, Sharon, were part of The Taxpayers Group of Fort Fairfield, which petitioned for a referendum vote after last year’s budget passed. The town clerk rejected that petition three times.
Ouellette said he was disappointed that only one of his fellow councilors — Melissa Libby, who voted against the advisory group — attended several committee meetings. Libby declined to comment.
“It’s only my first year [on council], so I don’t claim to know everything. But I do know that we need a change,” Ouellette said. “We have to reduce our spending.”
On Aug. 17, the five-member town council will vote on whether to allow two councilors to serve as non-voting members of the committee. If passed, the ordinance changes would require the committee to submit recommendations to Powers in writing, as well as to councilors.
