Southwest Harbor to vote on $5.36 M budget

SOUTHWEST HARBOR – Residents will gather next week at the annual town meeting to vote on a proposed $5.36 million combined municipal and elementary school budget.

With additional appropriations of $1.05 million for Mount Desert Island Regional High School and $289,000 for Hancock County, the total budget as recommended by the Warrant Committee adds up to $6.7 million.

If approved as proposed, the town actually would see its mill rate decrease a few cents, from $17.35 per $1,000 of taxable property, to $17.26 per $1,000. Town Manager Ken Minier said that Pemetic Elementary School would be, as usual, the most expensive thing in the budget.

“The school is the No. 1 cost,” he said Thursday. The Board of Selectmen had recommended that the town snip $50,000 from the school’s initial request of $2.89 million, but the Warrant Committee voted to put that sum back into the recommended budget.

“I think the Board of Selectmen just felt that there needed to be some cutbacks in costs,” Minier said.

Voters also will decide how much money to spend on nongovernment requests from agencies including the public library, MDI Explorer bus system, Southwest Harbor-Tremont Chamber of Commerce and Harbor House Youth Center.

Minier said that town officials plan to complete some construction projects in the next year, including using $63,550 in reserve funds to finish work on the Clark Point Road from Herrick Road to the post office. That section of the road is slated to receive new sidewalks, new drainage and repaving.

Also on the agenda are the acceptance of a gift of real estate from David and Shirley Walton and some minor changes in the town’s definition of an automobile graveyard.

The next day, voters will choose elected officials. Incumbent Board of Selectman chair Skip Wilson is the only candidate for a three-year term on the board, Amy Dolliver Young and Prentice Strong III are running unopposed for two three-year positions on the school committee, and Eric Clark is running for the three-year position of trustee of the MDI Regional School District.

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. Monday, May 1, at the Pemetic Elementary School gymnasium. Voting will take place from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 2, at the American Legion Hall.