Charter Commission

    On June 30, 2009, City Clerk Judy Corrow received a petition from five Caribou citizens for a proposed Charter amendment to Section 5.06 Budget. The proposed amendment states, “The City Manager under the direction of the City Council shall use a ‘Zero base budgeting’ format to formulate each new city budget, using or starting from the previous year’s budgeted numbers will not be allowed. City administration will start from $0.00 and build each department’s budget by line item, after which the total city budget will go to the city’s taxpayers for approval. Ballots will show each department’s total budget and its percentage of the proposed mil rate.”     This petition requests a perceived change to the current budget process. The city already uses line-item budget data compiled over a minimum of 10 years to establish a baseline from which the Council develops an annual budget.
    Both the Maine Municipal Association and city legal departments consulted concurred that this “amendment” would actually be a “revision” to the city charter. It is important to note the difference between an amendment and a revision to the charter. An amendment makes corrections to the general plan that has already been established in the existing charter; details are changed, but the general plan remains. A revision, rather, dictates a detailed review of the entire charter and a redrafting of the whole document with no requirement to maintain any existing structures of the old document. A redrafting may result in a few changes, or there may be a significant alteration from the original charter.
    On August 17, the City Council agreed with the legal recommendation that this request for a change to the City Charter constitutes a revision and, therefore, functions as a request to establish a charter commission.
    The City Council has set the next regular election date of June 8, 2010, to submit to the voters of Caribou the following referendum question: “Shall a Charter Commission be established for the purpose of revising the Municipal Charter or establishing a new Municipal Charter?” Following the instructions of the Council, the City Manager will provide information regarding this referendum question and the anticipated results of either a “yes” or “no” vote at City Council regular meetings up to the election. At least 10 days prior to this election, a public hearing will be scheduled on this matter.
    The next regular City Council meeting will be held Monday, April 12 at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers. On the agenda is a public hearing regarding the proposed moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries. Citizens are welcome to comment either in person or through Steven Buck at manager@cariboumaine.org. Also on the agenda is further discussion regarding the charter commission referendum question.