Staff Writer
HOULTON — Next Tuesday, March 24, the voters of Houlton make a million-dollar-decision on whether or not they finance road and sidewalk repair with a 20-year loan. The vote will be determined by a simple majority which means a single vote can make a difference.
Councilor Sue Tortello stressed the importance of citizen participation when she said, “No minimum number of people have to come. Every vote is important.” Council Chairman Paul Cleary reinforced the point saying, “If 20 people vote and 12 vote ‘yes,’ then it passes. If people complain that their voice wasn’t heard, then they didn’t come out and vote.”
Polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Gentle Memorial Building — the “Rec Center.” Absentee and mail-in ballots are available from the town office.
Cleary, Tortello and Town Manager Douglas Hazlett sat down last Friday with the Pioneer Times for a question-and-answer session to address some of the criticisms, concerns and realities of passing or rejecting the referendum.
The bond and the costs
Q: Why one million dollars?
DH: It is an estimate based on the most needed roads and about 11 miles of sidewalks — enough to address all the really bad roads. By definition, those with a high volume of traffic and public safety issues. If you go back just five years, you could buy hot top at about $35 a ton or less. That’s bumping $90 or $100 a ton now. That’s the biggest component when you’re trying to take care of roads and sidewalks. Not even the labor, it’s the material. To pave one mile of road is about $116,000. If we’re only budgeting only $250,000 a year, it doesn’t go very far.
PC: We might be able to do more when prices come in this summer with people looking for work.
DH: Once repaired we can afford to maintain them with our normal roads funding. Roads were deteriorating faster than we were putting money in the budget to try to address them.
Q: Who decided which roads needed the most work?
DH: We do that every year anyway. The problem has been, we have more to fix than we have money.
In 2006 we applied for a grant for sidewalk repair. We did that whole evaluation at that time and came up with 11 miles of sidewalks. It’s done on a grading basis. It’s very objective, not subjective.
Q: What is the situation with Bangor Road improvement?
DH: Last year they met exactly their construction agenda — all of the sewer, water, drainage, underlayment and the first layer of hot top. This year, they come back to do the final layer of hot top, curbing and sidewalks. That was covered by the bid that was put out. Our agreement with the state was we would pay our share of that cost, a formula established by the state, over a 3-year period. It was $200,000 which the voters approved, then another $100,000 and approximately $140,000 in 2009. It’s a state project of which we pay a share. It will be finished this summer.
Q: What’s the interest rate?
DH: It will be determined at the time of the loan — probably 4.5 or 5 percent based on the length of the loan. A lot of people have asked why the interest dollar amount is so high. That’s a function of how long you borrow the money, like a car loan or a mortgage. The benefit of a 20-year loan is that it keeps the annual cost very low.
Q: What is the cost of this special election?
DH: About $500 or $600.
Alternatives to a ‘no’ vote
Q: What happens if the voters say, ‘no’?
PC: Basically, if it does not pass. It could mean we take money from the undesignated fund balance, don’t do anything or raise the mil rate to be able to fund roads. This is why the bond is a good thing because it’s mil rate neutral in regards to fixing the roads. If we pull money out of the undesignated fund balance for roads, if revenues don’t come in where they’re supposed to be, we may have to increase taxes. We need the undesignated fund balance to keep the town running.
Q: Could the Public Works Department do the repairs?
DH: They don’t have a paving machine; they don’t make hot top. That has to be contracted out to someone who has paving equipment. When it comes to sidewalks, public works will do some of the prep work. But we are not in the paving business.
PC: We probably won’t be able to do any sidewalks and that’s where a lot of complaints are coming from.
ST: It’s surprising for a northern town how many people don’t or can’t drive. They don’t have transportation or choose to walk.
Who gets the job
Q: How can the public be assured bids will be made fairly to competent companies?
DH: Sidewalk and road paving is outrageously expensive. Not many contractors own that equipment. Traditionally, major contractors that are in the business of road pavement and construction bid on our roads.
Q: What was the rationale for the bond from the Board of Budget Review?
DH: This is a good time to borrow money, the town has no long-term debt, it’s work that needs to be done, it helps local contractors, and it is in the interest of public safety.
ST: The alternative was going back to look in the budget for places to cut services or raise taxes.
PC: Some say save that mil and put it away for four years. We’re already three years behind, if we wait four more years, instead of 11 miles we’ll need to fix at least 30 miles or more.
Q: What is set aside now for repairs?
DH: The only money set aside is for the matching funds needed for the new North Street sidewalks because that was a state grant where there are no sidewalks.
