Boothbay Harbor voters will elect six municipal officers May 6 and vote on the proposed $5,149,910 budget and 12 ordinance changes May 7. The May 6 secret ballot election will run 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Boothbay Harbor Fire Station and the May 7 annual town meeting begins at 9 a.m. in the Boothbay Region Elementary School gymnasium.

All six three-year seats are uncontested and five have incumbents running: Mike Tomko and Alyssa Allen for selectmen, Peggy Splaine for Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor Community School District committee, Ronnie Campbell for CSD trustee and Merritt Blakeslee for Boothbay Region Water District. Patty Minerich is running for an open BB-BBH Cemetery trustee seat previously held by Jay D. Warren. A separate Boothbay Harbor Sewer District ballot will have uncontested incumbent Deryl Kipp for a three-year trustees seat.

Budget

The $5.15 million budget is up $258,619, or nearly 5.3%, from $4.9 million in 2021. After applying $1,312,631 in estimated revenues, cost to the taxpayer will be $3,837,279, up $130,774 or 3.5% over last year’s total costs. Article 15 appropriates $1,312,631 in estimated revenues to reduce the tax commitment, up 10.8% or $127,845 from last year’s $1,184,786; Article 16 raises $3,200,709 for municipal accounts, up 4.5% or $137,454 from last year’s $3,063,255; Article 17 raises $1,341,190 for the streetlights, hydrant service, Boothbay Region Refuse Disposal District (BRRDD), Bayville/Isle of Springs and fireworks accounts, up 2.2% or $29,487 from last year’s $1,311,703; and Article 18 raises $608,011 for support organizations, up 17.8% or $91,678 from last year’s $516,333.

Notable increases are in capital, overall cost $241,500, with a 32.4% or $59,150 increase from last year; police, $904,345, 7%, $59,216; contract services, $126,728, 13.6%, $17,228; administration, $207,506, 4.6%, $9,072; municipal buildings and vehicles $96,598, 8.7%, $7,724; paving and construction, $209,634, 7.3%, $14,203; parking, $39,643, 36.5%, $10,604; and pump out program, $15,352, 46.9%, $4,899. Account increases less than 5% or under $4,000 include finance, meetings and elections, town clerk, town manager, restrooms, emergency management, code enforcement and fire department.

Notable decreases are in debt service, overall cost $85,460, with a 19.5% or $20,762 decrease from last year; public works, $417,756, 3.3%, $14,132; winter operations, $101,575, 6.2%, $6,672; insurance, $91,000, 5.2%, $5,000; and assessing, $26,217, 25.5%, $8,955. The supplemental, harbor management and welfare accounts see a modest decrease and selectmen and animal control accounts will remain unchanged.

Hydrant service ($610,626) and fireworks ($15,000) will remain unchanged and the rest of the Article 17 accounts will increase: BRRDD, overall cost $550,230, will increase 4.3% or $22,548 from last year; Bayville/Isle of Springs, $112,184, 6.2%, $6,522; and streetlights, $53,150, 0.8%, $417.

The only notable increase in Article 18’s support organizations was from Boothbay Region Ambulance Service which upped its budget $93,037 or 26.3% to $442,048. Other increases were under $1,000: Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor Cemetery District’s $15,885 is up 5.9% or $885; Boothbay Region Community Resource Council, $8,000, 11.1%, $800; Boothbay Region Health and Wellness Foundation, $5,100, 6.3%, $300; Harbor Lights Festival $3,750, 7.1%, $250; and Boothbay Region Health Care, Inc. $2,750, 1%, $250.

The community cable channel, New Hope for Women and Boothbay Region District Nurse Association accounts will see decreases under $1,000 each. The Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library, Boothbay Region Historical Society and Memorial Day accounts will remain unchanged and the summer band concerts account, $1,200 in last year’s budget, was eliminated.

Article 5 approves first installment of taxes for Sept. 20, 2022 and the second for March 20, 2023. There will be 4% interest for overdue taxes the day following the due dates. Article 6 approves a 4% interest rate for abated taxes. All interest figures are down from last year’s 6%. Article 19 would appropriate $220,631.78 in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for infrastructure upgrades to municipal buildings.

Code Amendments

Articles 20-31 amendments were summarized March 25 ahead of the March 28 public hearing. Articles 20 and 21 give selectmen the power to set amusement device fees and amusement fees under §73-6 and §74-5. Article 22 clarifies appeals process fees in §170-109 A(6) by including the costs for hearing advertisements and notification of abutters by certified mail.

Article 23 provides the code enforcement officer discretion rather than ultimatum over fines and issuing discontinuances of activity. It also strikes notification “by certified mail.” The land use code change is to §170-20 A and C.

Article 24 changes §2-5 A allowing selectmen to carry out town business in a quorum and limiting votes to a majority of the full board regardless of attendance. The change gives an exception to wharves and weirs hearings where a majority of a quorum can pass applications.

Article 25 §170-108 D(2)(a) alters the board of appeals’ powers and duties making any “order, requirement, decision, or determination made, or failure to act in the enforcement” of the code unappealable to the BOA.

Article 26 clarifies site plan review procedures under §170-66 A (3, 9). The first change gives the CEO discretion over application completion, allowing applicants to return with additional information to make their application complete. The second change gives the CEO discretion defining “substantial development” once an approval times out after three years.

Article 27 removes a duplicated schedule of dimensional requirements under §170-28 and Article 28 adds language to §170-27 E’s footnote 19 to clarify approval of mobile food vendors: “Each such mobile van, truck, cart or other conveyance requires approval as a separate use.”

Article 29 gives the CEO discretion over stop-work orders changing “shall issue” to “may issue” in §170-15.

Article 30 adds a definition for “art gallery, museum, or library” to §170-113 B, words and terms defined.

Article 31 simplifies the subdivision preapplication procedures under §170-104 A with large swaths of language cut and briefer language added.