ROCKPORT — In true Rockport fashion, annual Town Meeting was over in a flash, and mostly everyone left the Opera House happy, nibbling on cookies sent over from Steve Watts and the Three Dog Cafe. 

The night was calm and warm, a perfect June 10 evening. Despite several questions from just a few citizens regarding expenditures, the town — represented by approximately 30 citizens — almost unanimously passed a municipal budget of $3.2 million, up approximately $105,000 from last year.

The meeting was over in 40 minutes. Not quite as short as some in recent history (one year, the meeting fell under just one half-hour), but it was over early enough for lots of visiting after on the sidewalk or in local establishments. 

Town Meeting, now held annually in June, one day after elections and warrant articles at the polls, is the one time that the town addresses what it will spend together over the next year, and how much citizens are willing to fund it all from their property taxes. While town meetings used be be hotbeds of debate, they are now more commonly tame, with much of the business taken care of over the previous months in budget and public hearings.

The total tax burden on Rockport property owners will be determined later this summer, and that will represent not only the municipal budget, but also includes Rockport’s share of the public school budgets (approximately $9.5 million), as well as its share ($937,590) of the the Knox County budget, adult education ($79,455) and the annual debt ($45,610) on an outstanding sewer bond approved at the polls by Rockport voters.

Town Manager Rick Bates, in his annual report, told taxpayers that the estimated mil rate could be $13.4. This means that property valued at $300,000 may see in increase in their taxes by 3.16 percent or approximately $123.

“Of course, there are many factors that enter into the calculation of the mil rate, so this is at best a guess,” he wrote. 

Offsetting the $3.2 million in expenditures for municipal services (town office, road maintenance and plowing, police and fire), residents approved at town meeting to accept $1.6 million in revenues to help lower property taxes.

Rockport resident Julie Wheaton asked what constituted the library expenditures of $395,800. Town Manager Rick Bates responded that $190,980 of that goes to salaries, $65,600 to benefits, and $50,000 to contracted services (software, Internet service, etc.).

He said the Library Committee, a quasi-independent board that oversees library programs, is kicking in $89,000 from its investment portfolio to reduce the operational costs at the Rockport Library.

Another citizen asked why $4,035 is being spent on the now-vacant Rockport Elementary School property on West Street. There are playing fields there, and asphalt, but little else of municipal amenities, pending a collective decision of what to do with the land, a question in Rockport’s mind ever since the public elementary school relocated to Route 90.

Board member Ken McKinley responded that of the $4,035, approximately $3,200 is spent on mowing the grass there. The remaining is spent on electricity.

Read a comprehensive report of Rockport’s budget here. The report includes the latest demographics of the town, and a detailed explanation of where taxpayer money goes.

At Town Meeting, Board Chairman Bill Chapman honored outgoing Select Board member Charlton Ames with a Peter Ralston photo of holiday fireworks exploding over Rockport Harbor. Ames is a fireworks aficionado, and has been instrumental in getting fireworks at the harbor for the town’s Holiday on the Harbor, in December.

“My agenda has always been about Rockport,” said Ames. “And always about doing the best we can for Rockport.”

Following Town Meeting, Town Clerk Linda Greenlaw performed the swearing-in ceremony for incoming Select Board member Owen Casas and reelected Ken McKinley, as well as for incoming Library Committee member Eliza Haselton and reelected Stephanie Lash, and reelected Budget Committee members Betsy Saltonstall and Helen Shaw.

The Select Board then convened to elect its chairman, which will again be Bill Chapman, and vice chairman, Ken McKinley.