Calais council firm in opposition to county budget plan

The Washington County budget plan -- which would increase the budget by approximately $530,000 while adding four deputies -- was addressed with consternation by the Calais City Council at a meeting on February 8. Councillors spoke at length on the proposal, concluding that a letter drafting the city's perspective would be published in upcoming editions of local newspapers.
Councillor Mike Sherrard opened the topic of the county budget increase by reading from a two‑page statement he had prepared. Sherrard expressed that the county commissioners were "politicizing an incident that was handled very well by local law enforcement," referring to a recent high‑speed chase originating in Calais that involved drug traffickers. "Not one single person was hurt, much less killed, and all the suspects were apprehended."
Sherrard asserted that a major part of the crime problem is the lack of sufficient sentencing on repeat offenders, a situation that requires officers to "keep arresting the same people over and over again." He further referenced how the quoted price tag of $8 per person in Calais for the additional funding for the county was unrealistic because "every person does not pay taxes" and pointed out that the council is hearing from more and more citizens every month who can't pay their taxes already. He also questioned where new deputies would be hired in light of the ongoing manpower shortage. "I truly believe that the end game here is that the county commissioners and the sheriff want them to be the only department policing our communities. This is the only way that this fiscally irresponsible discussion makes sense."
Sherrard's comments were met with support from councillors, Mayor Billy Howard and members of the public. City Manager Jim Porter noted that, if the proposed increase is approved, it would represent a 45% increase in the county budget since 2011. Several councillors proceeded to share their perspectives. "It's not a manpower problem, it's an enforcement problem," Councillor Artie Mingo voiced. "They ought to take a chapter out of the book of our police department."
Calais Police Chief David Randall said that when his department was cut in half years ago, they learned to make do with part-time officers. He added that Calais is now in the process of starting a public agency drug task force that would foster a firm network of communication between neighboring police departments, enabling them to better utilize the resources now available. Successful tactics, such as Project OWN, will be shared, along with drug prevention resources such as Eastport's DARE‑trained officer. The task force is collaborating with the federal Drug Enforcement Agency to fortify the techniques of local departments and to look into expanding charges for cross‑state drug traffickers on the grounds of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
While the council agreed that it would try to seek the support of other communities in challenging the proposed increase by publishing a statement, Mayor Howard recognized that "the only communities that will see it like us are the ones with police departments."
Speaking as a citizen, Finance Director Crystal Gallina said that the $8 per person figure is completely inaccurate. "It's almost like a scam. They're trying to push it through." Later, Gallina provided her assessment that if all factors were to remain the same as last year, it would mean a $17 increase for houses valued at $88,000, which is the city's median property value; however, all factors will not remain the same as a result of rising costs experienced by the city. "The city is working very hard to try to lower costs to avoid having to raise the mill rate, while the county steadily increases every year," Gallina said. "It really feels like all of our hard work is being undone at the county level."

Tax‑acquired properties, flooding
Four requests for payment arrangements on tax‑acquired properties were reviewed individually by the council. In one case, City Clerk Theresa Porter will be requesting a higher amount than proposed to enable the residents to become fully caught up. In another, involving a recently deceased veteran, the council agreed to wait until funeral reimbursement funds from the VA were received by the widow. A third case pertains to a property that will be placed on auction by the owners to recoup back payments; once taxes for this year are calculated it will have approximately $35,000 due on it. The council voted to give more time for the auction to take place, with Councillor Mike Sherrard in opposition. A final property would be paid up to date in six months; City Clerk Porter recommended extending it to eight months to include this year's taxes. The motion was passed, with Sherrard again in opposition. Sherrard stated there should be a difference in consideration between properties in which the owners actively live and those which are used for income-generating purposes.
The rainy weather produced flooding on Calais Avenue near the former American Legion building. Public works received authorization from the council to perform an assessment of the drain pipe to determine if any areas had collapsed and to clean it, utilizing not more than $5,000 from the storm drain maintenance account. Citizen Michael Carmody said the particular ditch is a "constant swamp" as a result of trash being tossed out. Carmody said he cleans the drain once a month to try to prevent buildup, but he wasn't able to recently and that contributed to the flooding. Carmody requested permission to put up a "No Littering" sign; City Manager Porter agreed to see if one was available from the city.

‘Hold the line’
During the Finance Committee meeting, committee members expressed their desire to "hold the line" with the city budget and avoid raising taxes without losing services. Committee Chairman Mike Sherrard voiced that such a goal is possible, although he referred to the school as a "wildcard" and noted that the school had received an extra $250,000 from the state last year. Sherrard said that if the state did not meet that amount this year then the city may be expected to increase its local share, though committee member Marcia Rogers specified that the school is not asking for it at this point.
The feasibility of Capital Improvement Plans (CIP) were reviewed by the committee. CIPs have been used in the past as a way of setting aside funds each year with the goal of making a large purchase or having emergency funds available for specific departments.
Committee member Scott Geel noted that to have CIPs the city would have to determine how much it would be increasing the budget in each department. Committee member Artie Mingo countered that having a higher balance in the undesignated fund account is preferable to removing portions for specific CIP accounts.
Chairman Sherrard suggested that the low interest rates available to the municipality made it a better option to pursue financing for some projects. The committee agreed that it would determine how to proceed after each department conducted an assessment of its inventory, including how long each relevant item was expected to last and its estimated cost of replacement.
The committee spoke on the need to have a uniform tax-acquired property policy to enable fairness for citizens involved in the process. "We need to have a policy so we don't have situations where people with two different last names in similar situations come in and get different results," said Sherrard. The Maine Municipal Association recommends that municipalities make agreements for no more than five payments to bring properties up to date, a recommendation backed by research that allowing for a longer payback time is harmful to both the community and the individual. The committee agreed that research will be conducted on policies established by other communities to build its own upon.