The March 12 budget workshop included cemeteries, public works, the municipal building, the airport, and the parks and recreation department.

A surprise announcement by Town Manager Marian Anderson that one of the transfer station’s full-time employees had given notice led to a discussion about combining the employees of public works and the transfer station, which would mean sharing a Class B driver. Road Commissioner Doug Fowler said  he could not commit to the plan now, as he does not have a full complement of employees. “We have been running short since September,” he said. Anderson  said that before they hired a replacement for the outgoing transfer station employee, she wanted to discuss the prospect of combining the departments, as selectman have raised the idea before.

Fowler said the public works budget is down by $400 from last year. He plans to begin repairing the old sand barn this year for use as storage. Funds went to a new salt shed last year.

The cemetery budget was  up by $39,260, or 66.9 percent, due to the need to repair or replace fences in Greenlawn Cemetery for $28,000, and the Ancient Cemetery for $10,000. Fowler said tree work would also continue, especially at Birch Point and Ancient, where cedars and pines are growing and causing problems near some of the graves. Money for the cemetery budget is covered by interest income, not taxes.

Fowler said the municipal building budget is up $4,190, mostly due to an increase in the cost of oil. 

The airport budget was flat at $254,697. Additions have included dedicated phone lines for credit cards and fuel sales, and Interim Airport Oversight Manager Richard Tetrev announced that all airplanes housed there, whether the owners are residents or not, now pay the town an excise tax.

The Parks and Recreation budget has two parts, the regular operating budget, and a special budget which Director Lisa Thompson said she views as an enterprise budget, largely self-funded, including costs for camps, after school programs, and special events, including a host of ideas Thompson had for the center. She would like to host special events that would attract adults in the community, such as a classic car show, which she said she hoped to arrange either at the center or at Point East this summer. She also said she would like to host a craft beer tasting event, but that would require a change to the ordinance, allowing for liquor sales, and a change to the insurance policy or the purchase of one-day policies to accommodate liquor-featured events. Thompson said she believed it would be easier to rent the facility for weddings, family reunions and other rentals.

Before Thompson took the position, an early revenue statement from last year’s budget suggested the department could fund itself at more than $500,000, but Thompson said that was unrealistic. Most on the select board and the budget committee agreed, but Selectman Bob Blagden thought the cost to run the department was too high. “I have given you a realistic budget,” she said. “I don’t know where that $500,000 figure came from, but we will never be able to generate that kind of income.”

Anderson said the figure came from a plan pre-dating Thompson’s tenure, to start a childcare program for the center’s users. The program was funded by seed money from the budget, but was never built, and the funding was returned to the general fund, Anderson said.

Others thought the center should be used more completely. Selectman Jeff Slack entertained the idea of a day program for older adults, especially those with dementia who need daytime support.

Select Board Chair Judy Colby said she took out nomination papers to run again for selectman. On Feb. 12, she said she would not be running again, but after a strong showing of support by citizens March 6, she reconsidered.

Owing to the storm on March 13, a plan to review the capital budget and do a review of the full budget was postponed until March 15.