Greenville voters approve budgets

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

 GREENVILLE — It took nearly 45 minutes for the first article to pass at Monday’s annual town meeting in Greenville.

 But from that point forward, things went fairly smooth as voters approved a $3.6 million school budget and $1.43 million in municipal expenses. There were 47 total articles on the warrant.

 The municipal budget was actually increased from the recommended amounts when voters approved an amendment to convert the recreation director’s position from 30 hours per week to full time. This added another $3,645 to the recreation account and $2,428 in the benefits account.

 The new budgets are expected to increase the town’s tax rate from to $16.20 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, up by $1.50 from last year.

 Dennis Bortis, owner of the Lodge at Moosehead Lake, criticized the school budget at length stating that his property taxes had increased by 53 percent since 2007 “and most of that increase occurred over the last four years.”

 He described the budget process as “upside-down. You figure out your expenses and simply go to the community and tell them how much you need.”

  Bortis went on to say that the budget, as printed, is “just numbers — not information” and “doesn’t tell you how many teachers there are, how many administrators there are or what the job responsibilities are.”

 At a previous public hearing, Union 60 Superintendent Dave Morrill said that while expenses are up by $130,018, revenues will be down by $223,106 partially due to less state aid because of declining enrollment. So the overall increase to taxpayers will be $353,124.

 Increases in the school budget include the addition of a math-science teacher to assist students in meeting the new proficiency-based standards required by the state.

 An amendment introduced by Janet Chasse to cut the school budget by $200,000, partially by eliminating the new teaching position, was defeated.

 School Committee member Liz McCannell explained that the position was needed because of the new state-mandated proficiency requirements that take effect in the next few years. “We are not looking at a Cadillac educational program,” Cannell said. “We have a group of teachers who are working very hard with minimal resources.”

 Most of the articles passed easily on a show-of-hands vote but the measure on the $1.14 million additional local funds was approved on a secret ballot tally of 69-11.

 The municipal budget is up by $89,507 and only prompted a few questions from the audience.

 Some of the hikes include a projected increase in sand for next winter ($24,585), summer roads ($15,360) and repairs to the public works garage ($3,813).

 The police department budget is up by $9,026, mostly for reserve officers to fill needed shifts, but the overall public safety budget is up by only $5,672.

 The movement to upgrade Recreation Director Sally Tornquist’s position was led by retired educator Loren Ritchie who said that she routinely works longer hours without compensation. “Sally and the recreation committee have raised $32,000 just in the past year to help the program,” Ritchie said. “It takes a lot of time and effort to do that.”

 Voters also approved a revised land use ordinance to comply with new state regulations and a policy to reduce the number of planning board members from seven to five.

 The change was recommended by Code Enforcement Officer Jack Hart who cited problems getting a quorum for the meetings, thus postponing action on applications.