ROCKLAND — During the Rockland City Council meeting May 18, councilors continued to consider ways of slashing the fiscal year 2016 budget’s 8-percent increase.

Specified positions in consideration for remaining unfilled are the fire chief vacancy ($82,000) and a vacancy within the police department ($68,000). The council has also requested that the harbormaster come up with $30,000 in revenue for his department.

During the May 13 budget meeting a councilor asked Interim Fire Chief Adam Miceli if he would continue managing both roles of chief and assistant chief for another year. From a practical point of view, Miceli said he could live with the responsibility, on his assistant chief salary, for another year.

Councilor Valli Geiger asked the council during the Monday meeting if the fire chief vacancy could be held off for a year.

Councilor Louise MacLellan-Ruf responded by reiterating a conversation she had with Micelli: “He in no way thinks it makes any sense with four or five of the higher-end firemen who are going to be retiring soon. With that kind of shift, not to have a fire chief in place did not make any financial sense or any safety sense for the community.”  

City staff have also considered reducing the amount of time City Hall is open to the public. The idea is that staff would continue to work full-time, but they would use the hours closed to the public to finish their workload. City Manager James Chaousis said: “Some of us would love to have one day when we could play catchup. But, take my circumstances. It’s pretty easy for me to shut the door and say ‘we’re not going to address the public.’ But why don’t we?....Sometimes the public feeling like they can actually access their government is worth more than the time that we’re losing.”

The council also considered cutting some city staff positions from the full time 37.5 hours per week to part-time 30 hours while still providing benefits. Though this strategy has been implemented already for some employees, unionized employees have not felt the impact.

The city has been meeting with the unions, making it clear that if employees don’t make concessions in terms of benefits, positions and hours would be cut, according to Chaousis.

At the idea of unionized workers who would rather see positions eliminated than lose hours themselves, Geiger indicated the need to address that issue.

Geiger said: “At this point, we have millenials and older people who want to continue working, but are not willing to work full-time. They have incredible talents, and we need to use them.”

Councilors are looking for fundamental changes in the municipal budget this year.

Mayor Frank Isganitis has said in every budget meeting that he is no longer willing to continue to “kick the can down the road.”

In terms of the library, Isganitis spoke of the library card allowance for 500 area students. For Rockland residents, the cost of these cards is about $70 per person. The cost for these cards to non-Rockland students totals $35,000.

An individual at the library, whom Isganitis would not name, said that the Friends of Rockland Public Library covers the bill. Isganitis said he learned from a former treasurer of the Friends that only $1,500 is contributed to the student library card fund, leaving $33,500 for taxpayers to cover.

“Why does the family of four who lives in Rockland have to pay $280 for their free library cards through their tax bill, and a family from Owls Head can buy one for $35?”

Isganitis said that the response from the library is that an increase in card fees will cause non-residents to go elsewhere. “Well, doesn’t that solve our problem with staffing?” Isganitis asked. “And again, it’s not that we’re not pro-library, and if we had less people using when they’ve asserted that it’s 35-40 percent out-of-towners, wouldn’t it make what we have more accessible to the people who live here because they wouldn’t be competing with people outside of the community that aren’t paying as much?”

Councilor MacLellan-Ruf reasserted that budget issues of the library department are not new.

Councilor Larry Pritchet said he is looking for a zero-increase in the FY 2016 budget. “I’m very reluctant to vote for an increase for what’s in this budget because of what’s not in this budget. Streets, storm water, sidewalks. There’s a lot of unfunded need there...I have a hard time raising this when I know what we’re not paying for.” 

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com.