Council approves near $4.4M budget

By Stuart Hedstrom
Staff Writer

DEXTER — The town council gave its approval, via a 4-0 vote with several councilors not in attendance, to a net budget of $4,386,211 for the 2016-17 fiscal year during a July 14 meeting at the town hall. The figure represents an increase of a little more than $43,300 (1 percent) from the previous year.

The net 2017 budget is comprised of just over $3,939,800 in municipal operating expenses, about $264,250 or 6.3 percent more than the year the before; approximately $282,700 in Dexter’s share of the Penobscot County tax; and an estimated $1,990,670 for the town’s portion of the SAD 46 spending plan — a district budget still needs to be approved.

The over $6.2 million total of these combined costs centers — which represents a 4.5 percent increase from 2015-16 — is offset by nearly $1,827,000 in revenues (up by 15.5 percent) for the $4,386,211 total to be raised through property taxes.

Council Chair Michael Blake said getting to the final figure and the approximate $43,300 increase to the net budget, “I can tell you took a lot of elbow grease to get there. For what we had to work with, I think we did a good job.”

In her report, Town Manager Shelley Watson said, “The budget process was long and painful this year, with many cuts and projects placed on hold. Many thanks to the council and department heads for their sincere efforts to keep taxes in check.”

Councilor Marcia Delaware, who was part of the 4-0 budget vote along with Blake and councilors Ron Apel and Fred Sherburne, wondered beforehand about how the still to be determined SAD 46 figure should be handled in the Dexter spending plan.

A near $14 million school budget was voted down last month at the polls in Dexter, Exeter, Garland and Ripley, and a revised spending plan is being brought to a district budget meeting on Thursday, July 21 at 6 p.m. at the Ridge View Community School with an ensuing referendum set for Tuesday, July 26.

Watson said the mill rate would not be set until a later date, and adjustments could be made should Dexter’s education share be different than the $1,990,670 projection.

“I think we ought to leave it alone until we know where they’re going to be and then we’re going to know where we’re going to be,” Blake said.

In other business, the council briefly discussed the possibility of The Moving Wall being hosted by Shirley B. Carter VFW Post 4298 next year at Ellms Field instead of the Mount Pleasant Cemetery. The wall, a half-sized replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. and also inscribed with the names of more than 58,000 Americans who lost their lives during the Vietnam War, would be more accessible to the public at Ellms Field. Exactly where on the property the monument would be placed is still to be determined.

The VFW Post has been serving public suppers on Friday evenings and is conducting other fundraisers to cover the costs needed to host The Moving Wall. Last month Post officials told the council the plan is for the exhibit to arrive in Dexter on May 10, 2017, be assembled by a crew of veterans and then be on display from May 11-17.

“We had a little mishap with our ceiling caving in,” Watson said, as the July 14 meeting was moved from the council chambers to the town hall. “We are in the process of getting estimates to get that fixed.” She said thankfully no one was in the room when a portion of the chamber ceiling fell earlier in the week.