Boothbay Region Refuse Disposal District (BRRDD) trustees called a special meeting Feb. 20 to review their annual budgetary requests, following the 2026-27 figures being challenged by Chuck Cunningham during a Boothbay selectmen’s meeting.  

Upon review of past budgets and confirmation from legal counsel, it was found that not only has BRRDD’s method for calculating each town's contribution to its annual budget been inaccurate since 2002, but it also violates state law; this means all member municipalities (Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, Edgecomb and Southport) have either overpaid or underpaid their share for the past 24 years. The exact amounts are being investigated. 

“(It’s a) huge problem ... Just in a 10-year historical comparison, nine out of the 10 years Boothbay Harbor and Edgecomb have overpaid, and Southport and Boothbay have underpaid,” said Treasurer Julia Latter. 

According to a meeting handout, BRRDD changed its method of calculating municipal allocations in 2002 after pushback from then-Boothbay Harbor Town Manager Jim Somerville. This new method determined that the share cost be based on the assumed contribution of waste from year-round and seasonal residents, and businesses. Under Maine Revised Statutes (MRS) Title 38, Chapter 17, §1752, this amendment was legal.  

However, this methodology did not comply with the requirement in MRS Title 38, Chapter 17, §1754 that allocations for bonds and notes (debt service) be based on either state valuation (equalized value of all taxable property) or census data: Latter explained, the cost share was only being calculated using each town’s assumed waste contribution. Moving forward, that method will be used in conjunction with either state valuation or Census data for debt service.  

Mockups of the new 2026-27 budget were presented, one using state valuation; the other, using Census data. The board plans to dive deeper into this issue and pick a long-term method, but due to town meeting warrant deadlines, they voted on which calculation method to use for this year.  

Amy Harkins of Southport and J.D. Warren and Latter of Boothbay Harbor voted to use Census data, which would lessen their towns' contributions the most. Curt Crosby of Edgecomb and Chuck Cunningham and Jody Lewis of Boothbay voted to use state valuation for the same reason. Due to weighted voting, Crosby, Cunningham and Lewis prevailed, and BRRDD will be using the state valuation method.  

Under this new budget, Boothbay Harbor will be contributing $19,447.28 less than the previous allocation supplied to the towns in January; Edgecomb, $299.83 less; Boothbay, $561.08 more; and Southport: $19,186.05 more. The budget takes effect in July.  

“I feel Amy (Harkins') pain. I feel the pain of the fact that our taxpayers have overpaid for how many years. It's not a pretty situation. We owe it to our taxpayers to do it right,” said Latter. 

Chairman Jody Lewis added, “We’re going to fix (this).” 

Only the past 10 years of data have been compiled so far, and the board approved Latter completing the remaining 14 years.

In a post-meeting interview, Latter said the potential legal consequences are unknown. “I would expect discussions to arise from the municipalities we serve,” she said. 

In other business, the board revisited Operations Manager William Johnson's concern about five months' worth of blank fuel bills that were recently received from Boothbay, totaling about $72,000.  

“You can't just give somebody a $70,000 bill with no backup, no nothing, not even the gallons of the price per cap,” said Lewis. 

The board authorized Lewis to explore alternative means of fuel procurement, up to $25,000, in the event the issue is not resolved with the billing. The vote was 4-0 with Lewis abstaining.