FORT FAIRFIELD, Maine — Town department heads will present their proposed 2021-2022 budgets to the Fort Fairfield Town Council, starting at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 10, in the council chambers.
The session will start with police and continue on with fire, library, community services, marketing, economic development and administration, according to Town Councilor Scott Smith. The way Smith explained it, in these initial sessions, the department heads present what they are hoping to get for the coming year, but those requests often get pared down after discussions with the town council.
In the February town council meeting, Town Manager Andrea Powers urged concerned taxpayers to come to budget planning meetings to understand the process.
Nonetheless, several property owners, concerned about recent property tax increases of nearly 28 percent for some, said that when they asked at the town office about Wednesday’s planning meeting, they were told these planning meetings were not for the public.
But after a Star-Herald clarification call to the town office on Tuesday afternoon, the town clerk confirmed that the meeting is public.
At issue for many Fort Fairfield taxpayers is what they have called a lack of transparency by town officials regarding the budget and how the town is spending their money. Several point to the new ambulance service that has affected the budget and increased town spending.
Scott agreed, saying the taxpayers are not getting all the information.
“And we took on the ambulance service,” he said. “[At the time] I was thinking, wow we can’t afford this … that’s a lot of money.”
Calls to Powers about this issue were not returned.
During the February town council meeting, Smith said that they should take a good look at the town budget to see where they can cut for this year.
“I was accused of stirring up the taxpayers,” he said. “But people can’t afford it, some property taxes doubled and tripled.”
