Staff Writer
During the May 10 regular Caribou city council meeting, City Manager Steve Buck provided a Power Point presentation pertaining to information on the June 8, local referendum regarding a petition filed by five residents to have a charter amendment voted upon. The following informational points were included in Buck’s presentation.
• The petitioned amendment reads, “The city manager, under the direction of the city council shall use a ‘0-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.
• Following a legal review conducted by the city attorney (Richard Solman) and the Maine Municipal Association, both parties viewed the filed petition as a revision to the City Charter.
• The petition, if approved, would remove budgetary authority from the council, thus changing the current form of governance structure.
• The city council on Aug. 17, 2009, as the legislative body, voted in concurrence with the legal review that the petition constituted a revision.
• Thus the petition could not go forward as requested and state law would govern the process going forward.
• The petition contained the required language as follows: “Each of the undersigned voters further request that if the municipal officers determine that the amendment set out below would, if adopted, constitute a revision of the Charter, then this petition shall be treated as a request for a Charter Commission.
• State law requires the question to be put to the votes as such “ Shall a Charter Commission be established for the purpose of revising the Municipal Charter or establishing a New Municipal charter?” (This is the question for the June 8, 2010 referendum vote).
There are two possible outcomes for the June 8 election:
• If a majority of votes are “No,” then the petition fails, no charter commission is formed and the current form of governance and municipal charter remains. Under the current form, the city council and or citizen petitions can still amend the charter, absent a charter commission. Under this scenario, future amendments may be made to the overall governance of the a city as well as amending the charter.
Amendment implies the continuance of the general plan and purpose of the city’s governance and corrections to better accomplish its purpose. Amendment allows for the fine tuning and response to changes in laws, but does not provide for a change in overall governance structure.
• If a majority of votes are “Yes,” then state law will prevail governing the establishment of a Charter Commission. A Charter Commission may amend, revise, or write a completely new city charter. (Under this scenario, revisions and or a completely new charter may be recommended for a subsequent referendum vote consideration).
REVISION implies a re-examination of the whole law and a redraft without obligation to maintain the
form, scheme, or structure of the old. As it pertains to the city’s charter, it suggests a convention to examine the whole subject and to prepare and submit a new instrument whether the desired changes from the old are few or many.
In summary, the referendum question, “Shall a Charter Commission be established for the purpose of revising the Municipal Charter or establishing a New Municipal Charter. A “No’ vote defeats the petition and a “Yes” vote starts the legal process to establish a Charter Commission.
