Boothbay Selectmen received 17 requests from non-profit groups seeking a total of $295,000 for Fiscal Year 2017 during the board’s Feb. 24 meeting. Five of those seeking financial assistance were in person.

Local representatives explained how the town’s contribution would benefit the Boothbay region. Many of the non-profits sent representatives who live in the Boothbay region or Lincoln County. The Boothbay Region Community Resource Council sent Vice Chairman Bonnie Stover of Boothbay, who requested $5,000 for the organization. Last year, the BRCRC requested $500 for the Woodchucks.

The BRCRC provides assistance to low-income individuals and families within the Boothbay region. The council provides assistance for those low-income individuals or families through its Community Navigator program. The council can either assist those in need financially or with assistance processing municipal or state paperwork.

Stover described the BRCRC’s work as lifting the burden off local municipal office staff.

“Absent our programs, people would revolve back to the town office burdening the staff of time and town of financial resources processing those applications,” she said.

The BRCRC is also the major sponsor of “Set 4 Success,” which provides students with school supplies each fall. The council also participates in a Weekend Backpack program providing low-income students with food when not in school.

The second group seeking a town donation was The Community Center. Executive Director Jane Good of Southport requested $500 for the new organization. She discussed the center’s rapid growth in the organization’s five-month existence. The center started with a Monday through Friday schedule. But a steady stream of visitors and a strong contingent of volunteers resulted in opening on Saturdays. 

Good described The Community Center as giving people a place to go.

“They just keep coming through the door. It’s wonderful,” she said. “When we opened we didn’t want anybody to be alone. The Community Center gives them a place to go. There’s baked goods, coffee and people can come here, and sit, talk and play cards.”

The Community Center also provides educational seminars. Past events included discussions on Medicare and a pharmacist discussing medications.

The third request came from the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library. Last year, voters approved $45,000. This year, the library requested $50,000.

The Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library was represented by Executive Director Tim McFadden of Boothbay Harbor. The trustees are requesting more funding for the first time since 2013, according to McFadden. In the past year, the library has expanded its service through additional programs.

Library visits have also increased. In 2015, the library received 19,783 visitors last year, a six-percent increase. Circulation also rose. The library circulated 32,000 physical items such as books, DVDs, and compact discs which is an eight-percent rise.

The BHML also has six computers with high-speed Internet data capability. McFadden said the library has always provided the community with access to information. In 2015, users logged 4,179 hours on library computers.

“In our day, it was books and encyclopedias providing access to information. Today, it’s the Internet. The library is the community’s access point to Wi-Fi. So we continue to serve in the role of providing the community with access to information they wouldn’t ordinarily have.”

Selectman Steve Lewis questioned why the trustees were only paying interest on their 2013 library renovation construction loan. The trustees borrowed approximately $320,000 and used an endowment for collateral.

“You pay zero on the principal and $10,200 every year. That’s wasted money,” Lewis said.

McFadden explained the interest-free loan resulted from not having a capital campaign.

“We promised for years to make the library better,” he said. “We decided to do the renovations now, and create a future capital campaign to repay the loan.”

The fourth request came from the Lifeflight Foundation of Maine. It requested $780. John Welsh of Boothbay Harbor serves on the foundation’s board of directors. He explained 109 Maine communities donate to the fund. In Lifeflight’s 17-year existence, it has serviced 441 of the state’s 456 towns.

Spectrum Generations was the last nonprofit to request funding in person. Executive Director Mary Ann Pinkham of Damariscotta requested $500. Spectrum Generations is located in Damariscotta and works with various other non-profit agencies providing senior services in Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Knox, Somerset and Kennebec counties.

Other non-profit organizations requesting funding were American Red Cross, $500; Boothbay Area Shellfish Ordinance, $1,000; Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor Cemetery District, $18,000; Boothbay Region Ambulance Service, $175,000; Boothbay Region Community Television, $20,000; Boothbay Region District Nursing Association, $9,860; Boothbay Region Historical Society, $2,000; Community Fireworks Fund, $5,000; New Hope for Women, $915; Charles E. Sherman Jr. American Legion Post No. 36, $300; and Trolley Committee, $2,000.

The selectmen will decide which requests are placed on the May Town Meeting warrant in March.

In other business, the selectmen unanimously approved a line clerk’s service permit to install a new power pole on Pension Ridge Road.

The selectmen will meet next at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 9 in the Boothbay Region YMCA gymnasium.