Warrant Committee Recommends Not Funding Higgins Pit Solar Array, Tweaks Library Funding Recommendation, Using Parking Money To Help With School Bond

Warrant Committee and Town Council Meet Tonight To Talk Budget

BAR HARBOR—The Warrant Committee met for over six and a half hours Monday night, ending just before 1 a.m. Tuesday morning. During that marathon meeting, the committee members waded through the budget recommendations that it will give to the Town Council this evening, February 27.

“We set a record,” Warrant Committee member Bob Chaplin said at 12:50 a.m.

The Bar Harbor Warrant Committee’s four subcommittees gathered information about each of its assigned budget areas and met in February. The chairs of each committee went through suggested motions with the committee as a whole. Then other Warrant Committee members suggested changes.

While none of the recommendations from the Monday night session are the official recommendations to the voters, those come after the Town Council’s budget process, the recommendations do help give a flavor of the current Warrant Committee thoughts about several budget topics.

“I don’t expect a lot of changes. This is our third year doing it. It’s pretty much baked,” Chair Seth Libby said of the budget. In 2020, the town charter changed, which changed the process. That change has been contested in court, a judge blocked the changes, and now the town has contested the court’s decision.

Public Safety Subcommittee last Friday. Carrie Jones Photo/Bar Harbor Story

“We need to shave places or we’re going to push people out of this town,” Warrant Committee member Eben Salvatore said of the budget on Monday night. “I’m not proposing we cut salaries or cut wages or put anybody out, but the fiber project (for example) can be cut 10%.”

“If everybody does a little bit everywhere,” he said, “we can probably be proud of the budget,” but he is not proud of the current potential 20% increase.

“I think the voters elected us to look at this and do what we can,” Warrant Committee member Jeff Young said. “This is too much.”

Salvatore said that he’d had found $580,000 as potential cuts that he introduced Monday night and found approximately $1 million in cuts to property tax support to public safety, he said. Not all those recommendations were supported by the full Warrant Committee Monday night.

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HIGGINS PIT SOLAR ARRAY

Salvatore suggested recommending the Town Council cut the line item that is interest and principal for the bond payment for the Higgins Pit solar project.

“I think we should get our ducks in a row,” he said, “and then re-borrow it.”

The funding amount is $262,100. The motion was to reduce it to zero. The town has made one payment so far, Finance Director Sarah Gilbert said.

“I think people are surprised that this went a little off the rail,” Libby said and that the project was pitched that it wouldn’t be a significant cost to the taxpayers, but now the best option does show that cost. The terms of the project have changed materially, he said.

A split Warrant Committee recommended approving removing the funding. Member Carol Chappell and member Ezra Sassaman voted against that motion. Vice Chair Julie Berberian abstained.

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COOPERATING AGENCIES, JESUP MEMORIAL LIBRARY, AND MDI YMCA

The Jesup Memorial Library and MDI YMCA both asked for increases this year. The library is asking for what it believes is the town’s fair share of its operating expenses, citing a report that it presented to the Town Council. Town Council Chair Val Peacock was part of the library committee that created the report. Councilor Kyle Shank helped provide the data.

Last year, the library’s request was for $119,000 for employee benefits. The Y’s $50,000 request was for help with its operating expenses. That continues to be the reason for the Y’s request.

Last year, the Council increased the library’s and Y’s funding through the use of ARPA funds. Several Warrant Committee members expressed worry about using those funds to staff positions last year because the funds are one-time only measures. ARPA funds were part of the March 2021 COVID-19 relief passed by Congress.

“It’s essentially a grenade that you have to deal with a year later,” Libby had said at the time, and a split board moved (9-3) to recommend keeping the library funding at $160,000 and not support the additional $119,000.

This year, the subcommittee recommended fully funding the band, community events, MDI YMCA, and the library.

Monday night, Salvatore moved that the library be funded 40% (a $64,000 increase) from last year’s funding from the general fund, create a new line in the cruise ship fund for $50,000, and the parking fund for $30,000, along with $160,000 from last year. Tax payers would be paying approximately $220,000. It would come to a recommendation of approximately $304,000.

“If the tourists can pay it as much as possible, all the better,” Salvatore said.

The question was if the funding could come from the cruise ship funds.

“Every ship, somebody’s up there using something,” Salvatore said.

Library Director Matt Delaney said this was absolutely true. The question about potentially using parking funds was whether or not the library would be part of a municipal capital infrastructure project.

Libby said that while he loved the library, he was a bit bothered by the amount of the ask. He was on the library’s board recently.

“It’s a lot of money. It’s actually funding for a private organization” with municipal characteristics, but is actually more expensive than many municipal departments, Libby said. “It hasn’t sat well….It really seems to have rubbed people the wrong way.”

He said he liked Salvatore’s idea of using cruise ship funds to keep some of that off the taxpayers’ bills.

“We’re currently funding $300,000 a year to fund Island Explorer to take tourists into the park,” Libby said.

Member Katherine St. Germain worried that it would set a precedence of using cruise ship funds for privately run entities.

Berberian said that parks and recreation were 1% of the total budget. “When I see that, I wonder that this community wants to invest in itself in the school and some of these infrastructure projects. To me, the library is a really big part of the community.” The town might not be paying their fare share, she said. “It’s a symbol of our community.”

Salvatore’s first motion passed. Berberian, Chappell, member Meagan Kelly, member Allison Sasner, and member Bailey Stillman voted against the motion. Libby said that when talking to the Town Council, they should mention that part of that funding recommendation might be aspirational, but the wish is to take the burden off the taxpayer as much as possible.

Chappell said the town spent twice as much money on comfort stations for tourists as it does through supporting residents through the cooperating agencies.

“This is the one area the municipal agency can do to impact people’s lives,” Libby said.

They moved to recommend to fund it at the 2025 request level except Northern Light, which they’d fund at $4,000. The motion passed. Berberian voted against.

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PARKING

The Warrant Committee recommended the Town Council increase Total Paid Parking by $718,110 to total $4,308,660 and amend the Total Net Revenues & Other Sources to the total of $4,224,310.

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GENERAL GOVERNMENT

While the General Government Subcommittee didn’t recommend any changes to the town manager’s budget, there were potential possibilities voted on by the full Warrant Committee. Just this section of the meeting took approximately 2.5 hours of Monday’s meeting.

Salvatore recommended increasing the planning fees by 10%. The motion unanimously passed.

Salvatore proposed a reduction of 7% in the technology division. The motion passed.

Salvatore recommended decreasing wages overtime budget of the Planning Department of $3500, which is 100%. There are contingency funds to cover that, he said. The motion failed.

Salvatore recommended decreasing two lines in the Planning Department’s capital improvement section (6168 and 6169) by 7% for a total of $7,000: Town Hill Housing. The motion failed 7-6.

Salvatore recommended increasing 1016-4310 and 4312 by 10% each. This would increase the burden to those using water and sewer. The motion failed.

Salvatore suggested removing a new technology position, saying it is the only new position in the budget, funded at 50%, to start in January 2025.

“In my opinion, it’s more of a deferral,” of the position, he said, stating he’d rather wait six months for the position to start, which would mean July 2025. “Once it’s in, it’s in forever.”

The motion failed with member Kevin DesVeaux, member Shaun Farrar, member Louise Lopez, Salvatore, and Young voting for the removal of the position.

Salvatore motioned to reduce town office expenditures by 5% across the total.

“We’ve got a proposed 20% increase,” Young said. “Obviously 5% off that budget is probably fairly doable. If we aren’t trimming everything a little bit, we aren’t going to get to everything.”

Berberian worried that if they reduced expenses, they reduced services. The motion failed.

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PAYMENTS IN LIEU OF TAXES (PILOTs)

“It’s a little obviously unsettling that an institution that big only pays $119,000 a year in PILOT,” Salvatore said.

When we’re sitting here struggling debating and struggling, he said, there seems like there needs to be a more equitable situation. He said that the tax forms for the Jackson Lab showed that they brought in $660 million in 2022 in gross receipts.

“To only have $100,000 that they can find in a town that they have such a big impact in as always seems inequitable,” Salvatore said. “I don’t know the avenue. I don’t know the way to get at it, but when we sit here struggling, debating a $7000 increase or decrease in our planning department when there’s tens of hundreds of millions of dollars, half a billion dollars a year, rolling down our streets, it just seems there has to be a solution, a more equitable formula out there.”

“Everyone has noticed the PILOTs, but we’re stymied in what we can do, the Council is stymied in what we can do,” Libby said. “Our hands are tied.”

The Warrant Committee unanimously recommended to Town Council to form a working group to garner more PILOTs from nonprofits and Acadia National Park.

“Just to put it back in the wheelhouse, just keep looking,” Chappell said.

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CONNERS EMERSON SCHOOL

The subcommittee recommended to the Town Council to accept the education expense, revenue, and CIP budgets as presented originally.

Salvatore amended the motion to decrease the school budget’s capital improvement program by 7% for a savings of approximately $5,000. The motion passed.

The committee recommended funding line item debt service to the Conners Emerson School Bond to $500,000 from the town’s parking fund. The motion passed. Beberian abstained.

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PARKS AND RECREATION

There were no changes to the parks and recreation revenue. Salvatore suggested a 7% reduction of all parks and recreation expenses. Lopez asked about Glen Mary pool and buying chemicals for it when it’s not being currently used as a wading pond. The motion passed. Kelly voted against.

Salvatore moved recommending to the Town Council decreasing multiple line items by a total of 7% in the parks and recreation capital improvement budget. The motion passed.

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PUBLIC SAFETY

The public safety subcommittee had eight pages of potential recommendations that it brought before the full Warrant Committee.

They recommended the ambulance and fire revenues not be changed. It was recommended that public safety detail fees increase from $100 an hour to $115 an hour. This would increase the line by approximately $2,000. It passed the full committee.

A recommendation to the Council to amend the total fire expenses with the total decrease of $22,884.30 to total $1,786,763.70 failed, 7-6.

The committee recommended to reduce police expenditures to amend total police expenses with the total decrease of $24,122 to total $1,729,436.

A recommendation to increase funding to LifeFlight failed.

The committee went back and forth about how much and whether to continue to support the Island Explorer.

“We are subsidizing tourism,” Libby said.

Sassaman said public transportation should be subsidized like it is in most countries. He thinks it isn’t only for tourists and that it should be expanded. “I strongly support this and public transportation. It’s in concordance with the Comprehensive Plan and the Task Force (on the Climate Emergency).”

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HARBOR

The Warrant Committee unanimously recommended the Town Council increase the harbor revenue from $50,412.50 to $165,362.50.

That increase could come by increasing docking fees and utilities by $32,500 to a total of $97,500; mooring rentals by $5,000 to $15,000; harbor utility services fees, float storage, potentially skiff permits, and mooring registrations.

“The bulk of these are geared toward the visitor, not the resident,” Salvatore said.

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THE PROCESS

The Town Council used to adopt the budget and then the budget would come to the Warrant Committee, which would then make recommendations, which the Council would accept or reject. With the charter changes, the town manager’s budget is presented to both. The Town Council looks at it. The Warrant Committee reviews it and it’s now a two-step process. The Warrant Committee makes recommendations to the Council. The Council drafts a budget. The Warrant Committee then makes recommendations to voters about that revised budget.

“If they don’t adopt our changes, which they are not obliged to do,” the Warrant Committee can circle back with the subcommittees and decide if it wants to stand behind the recommendations that were not adopted by the Council. Those changes, if approved by the whole Warrant Committee, would then go to June’s town meeting to vote.

“There are basically two opportunities to affirm the recommendations some of us have made once the Town Council adopts the budget,” Libby said.

The Council tentatively adopts the budget by the first Tuesday in March with a public hearing prior to the fourth Tuesday in March 19. Warrant Committee has until April 10.

When money is not used in a line item, it goes into a fund balance. The Council then can use that money for other things.

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NEXT MEETING

Tonight, the Town Council and Warrant Committee will meet in a joint session at the Bar Harbor Municipal Building on Cottage Street. The council chambers are on the third floor. It is an open meeting and the public can attend. It begins at 6:30.

Meetings that are broadcast live like this one can be viewed at home by watching Cable Access Channel 7 or 1303 (Spectrum Cable only) and online at Town Hall Streams.

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Town Clerk Liz Graves and Finance Director Sarah Gilbert attended. Secretary Chris Smith was absent. Newly appointed member Bailey Stillman arrived about 45 minutes into the meeting. Ezra Sassaman was present via Zoom. DesVeux had to leave at 9:30 p.m.

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LINKS TO LEARN MORE

Town’s budget page

Town Council

Warrant Committee

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Disclosure: Shaun Farrar of the Bar Harbor Story was elected to the Warrant Committee last year.

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This article was updated on March 6 to include the words “for comfort stations” to more accurately portray the intent of Carol Chappell’s words. Many thanks to Carol for that correction.