Orono school, municipal budget approved

ORONO – It took the Town Council less than an hour Monday evening to approve a municipal and school budget of nearly $12 million for 2002, but the vote wasn’t unanimous.

Councilor Sophia Wilder praised the work that went into the document, but said she couldn’t support a budget that didn’t include a contribution toward a new building for the public library.

For the same reason, she cast the lone vote against the town’s five-year plan, which also passed 6-1.

The proposed skate park is getting a donation from the town, she pointed out, but the fact that there’s nothing for a new library building leaves her feeling “a little discouraged,” she said.

Councilor John Bradson said his understanding was that the skate park item “also involved work on the ice rink.” But he agreed with Wilder that the question of funding for the library was something that needed to be discussed.

“We do have a process in place to address the needs of the library,” pointed out Councilor Nick Houtman. Specific details aren’t available yet, he added, “but I think we will arrive there at some point soon.”

Two years ago, officials considered more than 30 locations as a possible site for the public library, which currently shares space with the high school library.

Last fall, a former professor of child development at the University of Maine, Dr. Katherine Miles Durst, donated $100,000 to the library toward construction of the new building.

The new budget approved Monday includes an estimated increase of $2 million in the town’s valuation. If that figure proves accurate, the tax rate will increase by 5.29 percent, from $24 to $25.27 per thousand dollars in valuation.

On a home valued at $75,000, for example, the tax bill would increase by $95.25.

Also approved Monday was an assessment of 50 cents per thousand dollars in valuation on real estate and personal property in the Village Center Tax District.

The Orono Village Center District Development Program will use proceeds to improve the aesthetics and the business environment of the center of Orono, explained Bradson, who also is chairman of the program.

The town is contributing $6,000 to the program from the General Fund, said Town Manager Gerry Kempen, and the University of Maine is contributing $5,000.

In other business, the council approved a Utility Location Permit for Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. to install a three-phase, 46 kilovolt line at existing pole locations along 2 miles of Main Street, and 1,071 feet along Island Avenue.

The installation would allow for increased electrical capacity to Orono, the University of Maine and Milford, explained Hydro representative Pat Kearney.

Councilors were curious about the fact that Hydro pulls old poles in towns such as Veazie, but the telephone company is responsible for removing them in Orono.

That was just the agreement, Kearney explained.

The approval granted by the town council included the requirement that old poles be removed within 30 days, Chairman Lianne Harris pointed out. She asked Kearney to remind Verizon of that fact, and he said he would.

A town-sponsored committee, the Ayers Island Task Force, will meet at 7 p.m. today in council chambers.

Sebago Technics, the Westbrook company hired to do a feasibility study and develop a concept plan for the site of the former Striar’s Mill, will give a presentation.