With Six Abstentions Potential Short-Term Rental Ordinance Recommended by Warrant Committee

Most Warrant Articles Recommended Without Discussion

Mar 21, 2024

MOUNT DESERT—Fifteen members of Mount Desert’s twenty-member Warrant Committee finalized the committee’s voting process to recommend, or not, the town’s warrant articles, which will be approved, or not approved, by town voters in early May.

The committee approved the warrant articles out of order because there were speakers present to answer potential questions for Article 22 and Article 29, and the committee did not want to keep those speakers longer than necessary.

Prior to the Article 22 discussion, which is the short-term rental ordinance, one committee member asked if they were going to find themselves in the same situation as the Selectboard, where so many members had a conflict of interest that the committee wouldn’t have a quorum. A number of members said that they would have to abstain because they were tied to the rental industry in some fiduciary way. One member even said that they would have to abstain because they could not live in the Town of Mount Desert without having a rental.

Six ended up abstaining.

ARTICLE 22

Article 22 reads, “Shall an ordinance dated May 7, 2024, and entitled ‘Short-Term Rental and Vacation Rental Licensing Ordinance’ be enacted?”

This article garnered the most conversation from the warrant committee members and questions directed at Noel Musson of The Musson Group.

Musson said, “Is it the best tool? You get to decide.” He said that the ordinance was simply a starting place and that changes could be made to the better or the worse depending on your viewpoint, at a later date.

One committee member seemed to balk at the idea of voting the ordinance in and then making changes later on. That member said that Bar Harbor did the same thing, where the town justified the original ordinance by just wanting some numbers and being able to get an idea of where things stood, but then it got a whole lot worse over there.

Another committee member asked if the registration deadline for upcoming years would be a “hard cutoff date” like in Bar Harbor. That member likened the situation in Bar Harbor to being late paying your electric bill and then losing your whole home.

Musson said that he wasn’t sure about the cutoff date being as rigid as in Bar Harbor but that the town does need a registration cutoff date.

At Monday night’s Selectboard meeting, which included a public comment session on Article 22, Warrant Committee member Mike Olson said, “Good evening, I’m Mike Olson. I was born at the Bar Harbor hospital, I grew up in Northeast Harbor, and now I’m fortunate to reside in Otter Creek.

“I really should not be here this evening. I should be home with my family, however, as a father, the most important and difficult job I have ever had, it is my obligation to be here tonight to defend the ability to be a father in this community.

“A father has many roles, most importantly it is insuring his family has their most fundamental needs met, food, shelter, and clothing.

“My full-time job provides my family one third of the yearly income needed to survive in this community. In order to help provide the most fundamental needs for my family I have other jobs.

“Other jobs are nothing new, it took years of working eighty hours a week, living summers in a tent, and eating sardines and saltines for me to afford a down payment on a dilapidated home in foreclosure over twenty years ago.

“Now, with children, I was hoping to work less hours through the wise investment in my rental home, which I have been able to do, now you threaten that.”

Olson has experience with losing short-term rental permits due to “hard cutoff dates.” His wife, Sheridy Olson and her business partner recently lost her permits because she failed to renew them by the May 31 deadline in Bar Harbor. She was three days late. These permits were an integral part of her business plan for her new business, Destination Health, which she has subsequently had to sell.

On Tuesday, Warrant Committee Co-chair Jerry Miller said, “Bar Harbor did a hard cutoff, but we are not Bar Harbor.”

All of the discussion took place after a motion had been made to recommend Article 22 and the motion had been seconded. The final Warrant Committee vote was nine in favor of recommending and six abstentions.

ARTICLE 29

Article 29 reads, “Shall the Town of Mount Desert be authorized to issue general obligation bonds or notes of the Town in a principal amount not to exceed $355,000 to pay for a solar photovoltaic purchase and solar project development as follows; 1) To purchase from ReVision Investments, LLC the solar photovoltaic system installed on the Town Garage located at 307 Sargent Drive. 2) To contract for professional and technical services for Phase 1 development of potential solar photovoltaic systems located on the roof of the Somesville Fire Station in the Village of Somesville, on the land adjacent to the Otter Creek Pumping Station in the Village of Otter Creek, and on the roof of the garage at the Northeast Harbor Wastewater Treatment Plant in the Village of Northeast Harbor, and to explore the viability of solar parking canopies on additional Town owned parking lots, and further to authorize the Selectboard or its designee to execute any and all contracts and documents and do any and all things necessary or convenient to issue the bond or note of the Town, which may be callable, and to accomplish the Project.”

There were a few clarifying questions for Beth Woolfolk, Manager of Renewable Energy Planning and Policy for A Climate to Thrive. Most of those questions centered around what the money was to be spent on specifically, and Woolfolk said that some of the money will be used to purchase the existing solar array on the town garage and the rest will be feasibility and cost studies for possible solar expansion in other areas of the town.

One committee member asked about the life span of solar panels and how long the town would actually be producing free electricity. Woolfolk responded that a solar panel’s production decreases after approximately 20 years but once the purchase amount is paid off on the town garage array, there should be quite a few years of life left in the solar panels.

All of the discussion took place after a motion had been made to recommend Article 29 and the motion had been seconded. The final Warrant Committee vote was 15 in favor of recommending.

OTHER WARRANT ARTICLES

For the remaining warrant articles, there was a motion to recommend the articles and a second. Some had discussion while some didn’t. The final votes are below.

ARTICLES WITH DISCUSSION

ARTICLE 33

Article 33 reads, “To see if the inhabitants of the Town of Mount Desert (Town) will authorize the Selectboard, to consent to the reallocation of $16,500 in Town funds originally contributed by the Town to the Mount Desert Community Development Corporation (the “CDC”) in 2019 to partially finance construction of a park, but which the CDC has requested be reallocated to the purchase of refrigeration equipment for the municipal skating rink.”

The Community Development Corporation is a nonprofit community improvement organization in Northeast Harbor.

One committee member asked where the refrigeration equipment would be stored in the offseason. The answer provided was that the refrigeration equipment would be installed underground beneath the tennis courts where the ice rink would be in the winter.

The final Warrant Committee vote was 12 in favor of recommending, one against, and two abstentions.

ARTICLE 57

Article 57 reads, “To see what sum the Inhabitants of the Town of Mount Desert will vote to raise and appropriate for Department 851 Museums, Village Improvement Societies, Recreation, and Public/Social Service Agencies for the 2024 - 2025 Town Budget.”

Committee member Katrina Carter said that she hates that the dollar amounts for some of these warrant articles are lumped together and not broken out. She said that she wants to remove the $5,000 requested from the CDC request because she feels that they have enough money via their own fundraising event.

Co-chair Miller said that if they remove the money the Selectboard can take it from anywhere they want and the Warrant Committee has no control over who will get it or not. Miller did add that they can recommend that the $5,000 be removed from the CDC request at town meeting but that doesn’t guarantee it will happen that way.

The original motion to recommend Article 57 was amended to reflect a recommendation amount of $186,825 which is a $5,000 reduction from the original $191,825.

The vote to amend the motion was ten in favor, one against, and four abstentions for amendment.

The final Warrant Committee vote on the amended motion was eight in favor, one against, and six abstentions for recommending $186,825.

ARTICLE 59

Article 59 reads, “To see if the Inhabitants of the Town of Mount Desert will vote to increase the property tax levy limit to $443,576.00.”

A committee member said that they were confused by this and didn’t know if it represented a tax bill increase or decrease. That member was told that it has nothing to do with the actual tax bill, but rather it is about meeting the requirements of LD 1, which is Maine tax reform law.

Due to a lack of understanding and a corresponding lack of a sufficient explanation, a motion was made to not make a recommendation on Article 59. That motion was seconded and the vote was 13 in favor and two abstentions.

Later on in the meeting, someone had found a better explanation. The town’s explanation below is from the actual draft warrant articles, and Article 59 was revisited by the committee.

“Explanation: The State Legislature passed a “tax reform” law known as LD#1. This bill created a maximum municipal tax levy based upon this year’s tax, plus an allowance for inflation and the Town’s tax base growth due to new construction. However, LD#1 allows Mount Desert voters to increase that tax cap with the approval of a simple majority of the voters at Town Meeting. The only requirement is that a secret vote must be taken by written ballot.”

Then a second motion was made to recommend Article 59, which was seconded and the final Warrant Committee vote was 15 in favor of recommending.

ARTICLE 68

Article 68 reads, “To see what sum the School Board will be authorized to expend for Transportation & Buses for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2024, and ending June 30, 2025.

There was some discussion regarding whether or not the town owns its own bus or leases it and whether or not it pays the driver(s). The general consensus was that the town is leasing a bus and does pay for drivers, in fact, there is supposedly a custodian who is currently doing double duty as a bus driver.

The Warrant Committee unanimously recommended the article.

ARTICLE 74

Article 74 reads, “To see what sum the voters of the Town of Mount Desert will raise and appropriate in additional local funds for school purposes (Recommend: $3,079,259.00) for the period July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, which exceeds the State’s Essential Programs and Services allocation model by (Recommend: $3,079,259.00) as required to fund the budget recommended by the School Board.”

There was some discussion here concerning the MDI High School budget. Some committee members were not familiar with how the high school budget gets approved or where they can see it in their property taxes. The high school budget is approved via its own annual budget meeting.

This budget effects taxpayers from all four of the island towns and registered voters from these four towns are able to participate in the approval, or non-approval, of the budget. All they have to do is show up at the annual budget meeting and vote. This is the voter’s chance to accept or reject the affects that the high school budget will have on their town’s budget. Historically, according to High School Principal Matt Haney and Zboray, with few exceptions, these annual budget meetings are attended only by school board members.

That annual budget meeting will take place on April 3, at 6 p.m. in the high school theater and while the town will be represented by certain elected school board members, any registered voter in any of the four island towns is eligible to vote on the high school budget and can be a part of approving the budget or not approving it.

For the FY 2024-25 proposed high school budget, Mount Desert’s share is 35.12% or $3,992,876.

The Warrant Committee unanimously recommended the article.

ARTICLE 75

Article 75 reads, “To see what sum the voters of the Town of Mount Desert will authorize the School Board to expend for the fiscal year beginning July 1,20xx and ending June 30, 2025 from the Town’s contribution to the total cost of funding public education from kindergarten to grade 12 as described in the Essential Programs and Services Funding Act, non-state- funded school construction projects, additional local funds for school purposes under the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 20-A, section 15690, unexpended balances, tuition receipts, state subsidy and other receipts for the support of schools.”

There was some discussion here because a committee member asked why the article reads “from kindergarten to grade 12,” when the town’s school system only goes to grade eight.

Both committee co-chairs responded that this was state language and that the town could not control how it was written.

The Warrant Committee unanimously recommended the article.

ARTICLES WITHOUT DISCUSSION

ARTICLE 16

The final Warrant Committee vote was 14 in favor of recommending and one against.

ARTICLE 17