BRIDGEWATER, Maine — Bridgewater residents voted in a municipal election and annual town meeting Monday, Aug. 31, unanimously approving most proposals except for one controversial article that raised taxes to fund a culvert and bridge repair.
About 23 residents attended the meeting, held outside the civic building on the Main Road because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The gathering is usually held in July, but the virus postponed the start date over uncertainty about meeting regulations.
Being in an outdoor socially distanced environment, residents did not wear face masks during the proceedings, though they were required to sit six feet apart. Gov. Janet Mills’ civil state of emergency allows gatherings of 100 people or less in outdoor settings if six feet of distance is provided.
Some people brought their own chairs and blankets for the gathering, while one woman brought her dog. One man and woman sat and voted from a golf cart throughout the event.
Bridgewater is a small town of about 600 people located on U.S. Route 1, about halfway between Presque Isle and Houlton.
Bart Bradbury moderates Bridgewater’s town meeting on Monday, Aug. 31. (David Marino Jr.)
The maintenance work in question will be done on a bridge and culvert over Young Brook on East Blaine Road, less than a mile away from the Canadian border. Residents voted 9-6 to raise the $70,000 in new taxes after fierce debate. Many, including Selectman Martin Wheeler, said the town should fund the repairs using reserve funds.
Resident Dottie Wheeler said the new taxes would be a prohibitive cost for several of Bridgewater’s residents — many of whom she said lived on fixed incomes — during a time of economic uncertainty.
“I’ve heard it said that for the average taxpayer, it won’t hurt them,” Dottie Wheeler said. “You can’t say what will hurt someone when they are living on $1,500-$2,000 dollars a month.”
But fellow Selectman Jim Gehring argued that taking money from those funds would leave the town in a precarious situation in an emergency. He said the recent creation of the Central Aroostook Ambulance Service — a semi-municipal ambulance service that serves residents in Blaine, Bridgewater and Mars Hill — was a recent example of such a crisis.
Residents ended up siding with Gehring’s argument, which was the only controversial decision of the night.
Bart Bradbury moderated the proceedings, which lasted about 40 minutes beginning at 7 p.m. Bradbury sped up his moderation as it began to get dark, breezing past articles for which there was little opposition.
Other articles appropriated about $175,000 for road work and plowing, $46,700 for town administration, $45,000 for general government, $40,000 for a sanitation account, $39,000 for a paving reserve account, $35,000 for “administration, firemen’s stipends and upkeep of the fire department,” $30,000 for a highway equipment reserve account, $26,000 for ambulance services and $15,000 for a fire equipment reserve account.
Bridgewater Town Selectmen and Town Manager Jill Rusby, far right, appear at Bridgewater’s annual town meeting on Monday, Aug. 31. (David Marino Jr.)
The entire budget was about $626,000, a $107,000 increase from last year’s budget of $518,000. Most of the new spending will come from the maintenance work at Young Brook.
Speaking after the meeting, Gehring said decreased revenue sharing from the state this year (from $64,000 last year to $56,000) made it necessary for the town to raise its mill rate to collect new taxes. On Wednesday, Sept. 2, Rusby said the mill rate would increase, but the increase required has not yet been set by the select board. She said the town plans to determine the increase at a meeting next week.
“With our revenue sharing numbers being reduced, we either have to cut services, or we have to increase taxes,” Gehring said. “There’s no room in our budget. We’ve run a very tight ship here…and it came back to bite us.”
Before the town meeting, residents voted for two seats on the select board, two seats on the school committee and the town clerk position.
All elections were uncontested. Tracy Boyce was elected and Chairman Franklin Kinney re-elected to three-year terms as selectmen. Beth Bell and Janet Brewer were elected to three-year terms on Bridgewater’s school committee. Jill Rusby was re-elected to a one year term as town clerk.
