ROCKLAND, Maine — The City Council agreed Wednesday evening to hold a formal public hearing later this month on a proposed $12.5 million budget that eliminates the full-time attorney post and rejects adding a volunteer coordinator.
The proposed spending package, however, adds money for a community planner.
The public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, June 27, at City Hall. The City Council is expected to give final approval to the 2016-2017 budget that evening after the hearing.
If approved as proposed, the municipal budget, along with the proposed Regional School Unit 13 budget and already approved Knox County budget, would mean the city’s tax rate would rise less than 64 cents from its current level of $21.20 per $1,000 of assessed property. This means a person owning a home assessed at $150,000 would pay no more than an additional $96.
The council agreed at its Wednesday evening budget meeting to set aside $130,000 that would pay both for outsourced attorney services and the services of a community planner.
The city currently has a full-time attorney but no planner. The city manager had recommended eliminating the full-time attorney position in the budget he submitted in April. City Manager James Chaousis also has recommended in previous memos to councilors that they terminate current city attorney Kevin Beal’s contract. He has said that if the council can’t support him on that issue, the continuation of his own contract may not be the best option for the city.
During the council’s budget review meeting on Wednesday evening, City Councilor William Clayton said he did not think it was the best use of an attorney’s time to be drafting zoning ordinances. City officials indicated that a planner could better be used for that work.
At an earlier budget meeting, Mayor Louise MacLellan-Ruf said that the city may spend more money in the first few years on outside legal services than it currently costs to have a staff attorney, but that in later years there could be savings.
The council also agreed Wednesday evening to not add a volunteer coordinator position as the manager had recommended. There was no debate on the issue. The position would have cost $68,000.
The largest account in the $12.5 million proposed municipal budget is public services at nearly $3.1 million. This includes the operation of the landfill and transfer station. The police department budget is proposed at nearly $2.1 million and the fire department at nearly $1.9 million. The general government budget at City Hall is $1.8 million. The library budget is proposed at $547,000 and the harbor budget at $461,000.
During the public comment session of Wednesday’s meeting, resident Nate Davis urged the council to consider including $400,000 for an engineering and design study to allow for the extension of high-speed broadband internet access to the entire community.
Davis said this was a huge opportunity to do something that would have a positive impact on economic development. He said it would attract small and medium-sized tech businesses to the community.
Rockland had commissioned a study last year along with Rockport and Owls Head for such a broadband extension. Chaousis said earlier this week that a report done by Tilson Technology has not risen to the top of the policy discussion.
“As was discussed in the capital improvement project budget process, this is a lower priority than the other capital issues that the city is trying to address,” Chaousis said.
The Tilson study had estimated that extending broadband throughout Rockland would cost $7.6 million but would generate far more economic development than that cost.
Neighboring Rockport resident s will be voting at next Wednesday’s town meeting on whether to spend $300,000 on an engineering and design study.
Owls Head Selectman Linda Post said earlier this week that her community was still studying the issue.