Petition to pare city budget killed by 6-2 vote of council

A petition drive to cut $1.1 million from the municipal budget signed by 750 Bangor voters died Monday night at the hands of the City Council.

The intent of the organizers was to have the voters decide the fate of the initiative to trim the $42.9 million combined school and city budget. But their efforts and the signatures went for naught when the council voted 6-2, with one member absent, to idefinitely postpone the matter. Councilor Jane Saxl was absent, and councilors Patricia Blanchette and Gerard Baldacci opposed the postponement.

Former councilor Arthur Tilley has said that he and several others organized the drive because property taxes had been increasing too quickly. They needed 500 signatures, and gathered more than enough in less than the allotted time.

But, the city solicitor issued an opinion that the municipal appropriation, setting the budget and allocating the money to pay for it is not subject to an initiative efforts.

In a memorandum to councilors, City Solicitor Robert E. Miller said, “The adoption of the budget and the annual appropriation to fund it are clearly administrative in nature. In light of the overwhelming authority in support of my interpretation, it is my recommendation that the council not place the item on the ballot.”

Tilley took exception to the city’s legal opinion. “The people of Bangor area concerned about the constant increases in their taxes,” he said. “To indefinitely postpone this, you are just saying to the people, `Forget it.”‘

He went on to say, “If you just point blank pull the rug out from under people, there’s going to be some resentment.”

Councilor William Cohen objected to some of Tilley’s remarks. “While you have been helpful in the past, particularly with Bass Park. I think you’re off base a little bit. We brought in a budget that in fact is under the state average.”

Tilley said that under his proposal, the School Department would bear almost $900,000 of the cuts. But he said he has had difficulty in obtaining complete information from the department. He submitted a 14-item request asking to review the information, some of it quite complex.

In response, he received a letter in which Superintendent James Doughty said, “While some of the data you have requested appears to be all public information, I have sought legal confirmation prior to its release. That confirmation should be coming shortly. As soon as we have had the opportunity to review each item in the request, I want to assure you that we intend to respond.”

“This is public information,” Tilley said. “And I resent them holding this information back.”

Tilley knew the outcome at the start of the meeting. And in the hallway before the vote was taken, he said, “The only recourse that you have is to take them to court. People who signed the petition are of normal means. There’s no sugar daddy who can come up with $5,000 or $10,000 to go to court.”

Earlier in the meeting, the council cleared the way for the construction of Acadia Hospital, the latest addition to the Eastern Maine Healthcare family. Plans call for a 105-bed hospital providing acute psychiatric care for children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly, and a clinic for the chemically dependent.

The City Council approved a zone change request that would permit Rosscare, the developer of Acadia, to renovate Taylor Hospital and to enlarge the campus. Before construction starts, the Planning Board must grant site plan approval.