HOPE — Of the 1,550 Hope citizens, approximately 70 turned out for annual Town Meeting, June 17, and as Hope tends to do, they kept a firm lid on spending. With minor debate, they trimmed almost $9,000 from a $763,056 municipal budget, which included saying no to increasing compensation to their fire chief. They also discovered they had another $1,000 of revenue in their cemetery account, and amiably agreed to use it for reducing property tax assessments.

Moderator Tom Ford welcomed townspeople to the Hope Elementary School gymnasium at 7 p.m., where they took seats in the bleachers or in folding chairs, facing a table presided over by their selectmen and town administrator. Hope Library volunteers Beth Guisley and Jean Etlinger set up a table of refreshments, and as business got under way, citizens sat down, brownies and cookies in hand.

They voted unanimously to let two nonresidents speak at town meeting, their Town Administrator Jon Duke, who lives in Rockport, and Kevin McGinnis, president of North East Mobile Health Services, the Scarborough-based emergency medical service with which the four towns of Camden, Hope, Lincolnville and Rockport have now officially endorsed pursuing a two-year contract.

Tax Collector Rosanna Bowman delivered results of from the first part of the two-day annual town meeting process that was held June 11 at a polling station (see attached PDF for complete results). There, Hope elected two new selectmen, James Annis and Christopher Pinchbek, who are replacing Tim Pearse and Eric Campbell, whose terms were up and did not seek office again.

Hope also approved school budgets, elected Michael Pierce and Brian Powers, Sr., to the Hope School Committee, and approved a land use ordinance regulating where and how marijuana and methadone clinics would be allowed in town, if such proposals were made.

In the end, Hope approved a $754,956 municipal budget, of which would require $375,706 in funding from property taxes. In addition to funding their municipal budget, taxpayers will also need to cover their $214,518 share of Knox County costs, as well as their $1.9 million education costs at both Hope Elementary and Camden Hills Regional High schools.

In total, Hope needs to raise $2.5 million in taxes to fund those four budgets. Of that large budgetary pie, Knox County represents 8 percent; education, 75 percent; and municipal, 16 percent.

According to Town Administrator Jon Duke, the 2013-2014 municipal budget is the lowest it's been since 2006.

At town meeting, the warrant article drawing most attention concerned the public safety line, in particular, a request from Fire Chief Clarence Keller to increase his compensation from $2,000 per year to $4,000.

Keller currently receives a $2,000 stipend as fire chief, and a $1,500 stipend as the town's emergency management agency director. Half of the latter is funded by Homeland Security.

This year, Keller requested, and the selectmen built into the budget, a $2,000 increase for his fire chief functions.

At Town Meeting, however, Budget Committee Vice Chairman John Jensen motioned to amend the line item, reducing it from $99,001 to $97,001. The goal, he said, was to keep the fire chief position funded at current levels.

“I just don't think in this day and age, and economy, we can look at increases like this,” he said.

He illustrated by describing a woman living in a mobile home on a fixed income of $600 a month.

"We also have young families in this town who are struggling," he said, adding that notices had been sent home from school this winter appealing for help in getting shoes for children. “If I am guilty of thinking about folks, I guess I am.”

He said Keller initially asked for an $8,000 annual compensation, up 300 percent from current levels.

Assistant Fire Chief Alex Ludwig said he would like to know the identity of the woman living on $600 a month.

"I would donate $100 to the lady," he said.

"While I sympathize with the wonderful folks that John has brought to your attention, I, too, would like a list of these folks who get brought up every year," said Keller. "I, too, don't want to put undue burden on folks who can't afford to pay taxes. The reality is, nobody wants to pay taxes. I have been doing this for 25 years, as of Sept. 1. I think I've run a pretty tight ship, conscientious of how to save money for the town of Hope."

But he said, expectations of running fire departments are different now, and the responsibilities of, and liabilities to, the town are more drastic.

"The 300 percent, or $8,000, is not for the get-rich quick scheme for Clarence and Nancy to go on vacation," he said. "It's not about the dollars, it's about the time, the time this is taking to do the job. There is more that needs to be done that time does not allow."

Keller said the increase in taxes for a property owner of a home assessed at $200,000 would be $104.60 per year, if he received an $8,000 stipend. He said if the fire department's capital expenses were added in, the homeowner with a home valued at $200,000 would pay $125 per year on the fire department budget.

"I think that's a pretty fiscally responsible number to insure that you have a fire department that will be ready to respond," said Keller.

With a $2,000 stipend increase, the effect to the taxpayer would be an additional $5, he said.

Keller also said that if the fire department did not exist, homeowner's insurance would increase 40 to 50 percent. Later in the meeting, Selectman Brian Powers, Jr., refuted that, saying the budget committee had studied that and concluded that "as long as the Hope Fire Department is a volunteer service and there is no public water supply, there is no increase to homeowner's insurance."

"My point in bringing this up, is if the investment you all make in taxes to the fire department, the savings will more than pay for your portion of the tax bill," Keller said.

He drew parallels with the Rockport Fire Chief's position.

"Those responsibilities are no different from those of the fire chief of Hope," said Keller. "He's getting $58,000, plus benefits. I am not asking for $58,000 with benefits. We are not talking about giving Clarence more money. We are asking to give him time to bring Hope Fire Department to the next level, have all policies in place, and make sure all is ready to respond."

Hope resident Alan Lowberg commented that he got a burn permit, and "the next thing I knew a fire truck showed up. I was wondering what sense is was in going to get a permit, if people ended up bringing out an expensive truck to find out what's going on."

"I don't think throwing money is the solution," he said.

Lowberg then said many accidents occur on Route 17, and he advocated for lowering the speed limit near Alfred Lake Road, where fatalities occur. Rather than get more fire trucks and ambulances, he suggested lowering the speed limit to 45 miles per hour.

Others argued against the $2,000 raise that was proposed in the budget, saying that the selectmen chose to forego stipends this coming year and there are no salary increases for staff.

"If you want to dig deep enough there are enough people in this community who are in trouble and have pride," said Brian Powers, Sr. "We have responsibility to keep these people in mind."

He made a motion for a secret ballot vote. Citizens then raised their cards, voting 36 for written ballot, 25 against; but before town staff handed out the paper ballots, a citizen asked what the added benefit to the town would be if Keller's stipend was approved.

'There's work that needs to be done that time has not allowed," said Keller. "Policies need to be written around potential personnel issues. There are budget committee discussions around capital equipment and apparatus, there are grant opportunities, and time does not allow to take advantage of them. We need to normalize a junior program. The average age [of Hope Fire Department] now is 45. While I don't consider that old, I am willing to admit that I am not able to do at age 48 what I was able to do at age 20. If we don't bring younger people in I don't know what the future holds for the fire department."

Citizens then filled them out their ballots and filed to the front of the room, where they deposited them into a cardboard box. The final vote on the amendment to decrease the public safety line to $97,001 was 45 in favor, 27 against.

Hope town employees and health insurance

The proposed budget included a reshuffling of health insurance costs for town employees. According to Town Administrator Jon Duke, speaking after the meeting, the health insurance was reconfigured to change plans that had a high deductible and established health savings accounts. The idea was to reimburse employees by $1,200.

According to Duke, the health insurance expenditures would have stayed the same this year, and then be further reduced next year. But, Bill Pearse, Jr., said at town meeting that the budget committee felt the rearrangement of insurance, which is contracted through Maine Municipal Association, represented a hidden raise for the employees.

He proposed an amendment that reduced the health insurance line to $140,308, which passed almost unanimously.

Duke said after the meeting that the town employees effectively faced a cut in health insurance with that vote, and that there was no such raise in compensation.

"Last night was the first night we heard that reasoning from the budget committee," he said.

The vote by Hope citizens coincided with the year that the employees also took no salary raises.

EMS Service

Following the lead of Camden, Lincolnville and Rockport, Hope voters also trimmed their ambulance service line from $9,908 to $5,908, reflecting a change service preference from Camden First Aid Association to the Scarborough-based North East Mobile Health Services and its $1,000 subsidy request to cover half of Hope (The other half is to be covered by Union Ambulance for $4,908.

During that discussion, Alan Lowberg took up the topic of reducing the traffic speed in town, suggesting an amendment directing the selectmen to petition the Maine Department of Transportation to lower the speed limit.

Moderator Ford told Lowry his amendment would be stacked on top of another amendment and procedurally confusing.

The amendment reducing EMS service expenditure by $4,000 was approved almost unanimously, with three opposing the measure.

The last bit of business on a warrant comprising 23 articles that drew a split vote concerned the last article: to see if the town would vote by written ballot to increase the property tax levy limit of $443,147 in the event the municipal budget approved would result in a tax commitment greater than the property tax levy limit.

Because the commitment was lower than that number, the issue was moot; nonetheless a vote was taken, resulting in an even split, 16 to 16. The vote was regarded as insignificant, though it reflected philosophical positions on the matter of tax caps. After mostly everyone laughed, Hope citizens said good night to each other and went home.

 Editorial Director Lynda Clancy can be reached at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 706-6657.