HOPE —  Citizens in Hope will gather Aug. 20 for an in-person annual Town Meeting, and big on its list of municipal business is a decision about whether to lease-purchase, over the course of five years, 15 different pieces of road maintenance equipment, and rent space in which to store them.

At Town Meeting, citizens will also consider a 2026-2027 municipal budget of $2,276,575, up $389,408, or 20 percent, from the current budget. The proposed Hope municipal budget, along with additional expenses from schools and county can be found here.

The municipal budget is just one piece of the fiscal pie that Hope residents subsidize through their property taxes: They also support the K-8 Hope School, their share of the Camden Hills Regional High School (Five Town CSD), Knox County government and Knox Regional Communications Center (dispatch) budgets.

Altogether, the proposed 2026-2027 expenditures that will affect Hope property owners is $6,552,672, up $692,283 from the current year's total fiscal load on Hope property owners.

Public Works

Town Meeting Warrant Article 2 asks Hope voters:

"To see if the Town will vote to authorize the Select Board to enter into a five-year lease-purchase agreement with Monroe Construction for the acquisition of 15 pieces of road equipment, at an annual cost of $120,000 per year for five years. The lease will be interest-free, with the annual payments embedded directly into the roads operating budget, resulting in $0 in additional tax impact or supplementary payments to the town.

The equipment will be used exclusively by the Town. Any additional cost that may be incurred would be through routine maintenance, insurance, and housing. Any ongoing maintenance agreements and use of tools shall be included in the equipment housing agreement. See additional documents that were made available at the Public Hearing on August 13, 2026.

Total Town Indebtedness

A. Bonds and notes outstanding and unpaid, $613,455.05

B. Bonds authorized and unissued, $0.00

C. Lease purchase agreement if this question is approved, $600,000

Total, $1,213,455.05

The list of road equipment provided by Monroe Construction includes a loader and dump truck, each valued at $180,000; and excavator valued at $289,000, as well as smaller utility tools, such as mulcher, patch wagon, concrete saw and more. 

John Monroe, owner of Monroe Construction, and who was elected by Hope voters at the June 9 elections to be the town road commissioner, has offered the town a business deal that has been articulated in a "Roads Equipment Lease Purchase Proposal". He is making a one-time offer for Hope to buy the equipment that his company has been using to maintain the town's roads.

"John’s stated goal is to ensure the town is well-equipped for his eventual retirement after the five years," the proposal reads.

The proposal also stipulates that the equipment could be stored at Monroe Construction's facility because the Town of Hope has no public works garage.

"Therefore, we will need to rent space for the equipment just as we are already doing for the trucks and snowplowing equipment," the proposal reads. "The Town will have a lease option for up to 10 years at the Monroe Construction property on Rt. 17. Monroe Construction will maintain all facility and property insurance, naming the Town of Hope as the additional insured."

The cost for housing the equipment there would be $2,500 per month.

According to the proposal: "The reason there is no increase to the budget or impact to the mil rate is because the cost of the equipment rental is already included in the annual budget. Instead of paying for the use of the equipment as an hourly fee (regardless of how many hours it is needed) the Town will only be obligated to pay $120,000."

Questions raised include whether Hope should continue to transition to a Public Works Department employing year round /full-time employees for summer as well as winter road maintenance.

The town has been talking about oversight of town roads since 2021, when a Hope Roads Advisory Committee was tasked with surveying and rating all town roads for condition, creating short and long term plans for maintenance and improvement, and investigating how other towns similar to Hope organized the work, "for example employing a supervising Road Commissioner, a town operated snow plowing, or public works department," said a summary of that committee's work.

Town Meeting 2026 Warrant Article 2 has generated much discussion on social media, but that communication platform does not reach the entire town, said Hope resident Charlene Mazzeo. While a member of the Hope Budget Committee, she is clear that she is speaking as a private citizen, not on behalf of the commmittee.

"As a private citizen and Hope voter, I urge fellow citizens to be better informed by requesting the public documents outlining the Hope proposed budget plus the road budget with the lease-purchase equipment proposal," she said.

She offered historical context to the discussion surrounding Article 2, and wants the town to understand all the facts as voters consider whether Hope continues to transition to a Public Works Department employing year round /full-time employees for summer as well as winter road maintenance.

Mazzeo said: "After an unacceptable bid response from plow contractors for the ‘25-‘26’ winter season to perform snow removal and sanding the Town of Hope was prompted to seek alternatives."

"A special town meeting in February 2025 discussed a proposal to purchase town owned plow and sand trucks," she said. "A motion to fund a bond 'not to exceed $769,744' for this purpose was passed (50-7).   It was also voted to hire a seasonal winter road crew from Nov 1, 2025, to April 30, 2026. The payroll and employees were to be managed by the Hope Road Commissioner who already managed Hope’s summer road maintenance, repairs and upgrades.

In March 2026 the Road Commissioner proposed that the town take over the payroll management of the winter seasonal payroll. The in-house payroll conversion date was voted to be effective May 1, 2026. This vote and the continuous May 1 tstart date extended the winter employees past the original seasonal dates of hire and seemingly converted the seasonal employees to year-round town employees going forward into the summer road work season without further board discussion.

"This 2026-27 town budget is inclusive of wages, health insurance benefits plus payroll taxes and required insurances for the year-round, full and part time, new town public works employees.

"Actual wages paid are included in the road budget proposal however the additional costs of payroll (federal & state taxes, WC insurance, health insurance benefits etc. ) are included as lump sum line totals for all town employees in the Administrative Payroll Cost Center."

Mazzeo said the lease purchase proposal for maintenance and construction vehicles outlined in Warrant Article 2 includes, "road construction equipment that is currently owned and used for town road maintenance and upgrades by the Road Commissioner."

If the town approves Article 2: T"he Town would be responsible for the additional required insurance, housing (present and future) and the cost of repairs and maintenance of said equipment. These expenses are estimated in the current budget though some questions remain unaddressed currently. The concept put forth by the Select Board is to replace the current Equipment Rental Agreement between the Town and the Road Commissioner/Contractor and potentially serve as the foundation for an equipped public works department."

She said that the current Town Equipment Rental Agreement bases its hourly rental rates on the most current published Maine State DOT equipment rental rates plus 20 percent. A similar agreement was utilized in previous budgets to determine the wages hired by the Road Commissioner. 

 Any potential taxpayer savings, or conversely, any taxpayer increases resulting from this proposal and budget will be points for discussion between Hope voters in attendance and town officials at the informational hearing and later at the Special Annual Town Meeting preceding the vote.

Mazzeo has said on social media that the: "tax increase approving the Select Board budget is 13.22% vs 6.53% with the Budget Committee’s recommendation. The Lease Purchase Proposal is NOT INCLUDED and is an ADDiTION to these amounts."

Others on social media, however, counter her statement, saying the the lease-purchase agreement would lower the cost to the Hope taxpayer because the cost is equal to the cost of renting the equipment. If at the end of five years and Hope is not satisfied, the town can fire town road employees and sell the equipment, 'for real money that goes to reduce the taxes paid by by the residents of Hope and then pursue whatever path will cost the taxpayers less.'

Mazzeo hopes citizens attend the Aug. 20 annual town meeting, and participate. And she recommends the town, as a voting body, takes the time to better understand what the fiscal implications are with the proposed expenditures.