CAMDEN — In just under an hour Wednesday night, and by a vote of 13 to 3, the Camden Budget Committee approved the town's FY17 budget of $7,364,591. That figure represents a 2.99 percent increase over the FY16 budget of $7,151,110.

In attendance at the April 6 meeting were committee members Richard Stetson, Jean Freeman-White, Don Foster, Anita Brosius-Scott, Alison McKellar, Paul Cavalli, Jamie Weymoth, Kate Bates, Etienne Perret, Tammy Ballou, Joe Russillo, T.C. Bland, Richard Gross, Bruce Malone, vice-chairman Frank Stearns and chairman David Nazaroff.

Of those present, Bland, Russillo and McKellar cast the opposing votes.

When the budget committee first met March 3 and was presented with a proposed budget of $7,766,681, as requested by Town Manager Pat Finnigan, it was an 8.6 percent increase over the previous year's budget. Over the course of three subsequent meetings, the budget committee had whittled the overall increase down to about 4.6 percent, but at its March 31 meeting, voted to end up with a final budget capped at a 3 percent increase over FY16.

Also at the March 31 meeting, the budget committee voted to place the task of making the $120,024 in additional cuts on Finnigan's plate. The budget committee — citing a lack of backup and historical documents and with nearly half of the members new to the job this year — felt that Finnigan and town staff knew better where cuts could be made without sacrificing essential services, or those long-held as important to citizens. They also believed that sending the budget back to Finnigan and town staff would ensure the additional cuts would not hem departments too far.

At Wednesday's meeting, as the budget committee began reviewing Finnigan's new budget, the first item they discussed was staff salaries. At their March 24 meeting, the committee voted to recommend a zero percent wage increase for town employees.  Committee member White said that by not giving a cost of living increase this year, which had originally been proposed at 2 percent, "staff are actually taking home 1 percent less in their paychecks."

"It's something to think about," she said.

Committee member Bland said that the current budget included a 1.7 percent increase to the town's contribution to employee's retirement plan, so while paychecks would be 1 percent less, more money is going into each employee's retirement account.

Nazaroff asked about two particular items, one of them being the Capital Improvements budget that included $75,000 for the "Town Clock" located in the steeple of Chestnut Street Baptist Church.

He said, "I don't think the town should be funding repair of a steeple that the town does not own. There are many other churches in the town that would love to have $75,000 for miscellaneous repairs and I don't think the taxpayers should foot that for one particular church."

Nazaroff was reminded that at the March 29 meeting, the committee voted to approve the Capital Improvements budget at $189,000, instead of $288,000. In addition to removing the $75,000, the budget committee removed another $24,000 from that budget line.

He also questioned the $1,000 budgeted for the Emergency Operations Center, saying that when it was relocated last year from the public safety building to the Congregational Church, the $1,000 in the 2016 budget was to be a "one time expense."

"It's a nominal expense, but I am asking about it for someone who could not be here," said Nazaroff. He then asked if Fire Chief Chris Farley could talk about what that money was needed for.

Farley said the money was for training and supplies, but that they had identified some additional needs, like more whiteboards.

"I try to look at things that the town would not consider essential services," said Nazaroff, as he reviewed the proposed budget. "Sand and salt are essential services to taxpayers, but maybe some more whiteboards are not essential."

Bland then questioned the level of public safety the town would be getting for the additional budget cuts made to achieve the 3 percent cap.

The Police Department budget in FY16 was $1,059,572. For FY17, Police Chief Randy Gagne requested $1,145,965 (an increase of $86,393) and the town manager requested $1,131,655 (an increase of $72,083).

After going before the budget committee Gagne came up with a $10,000 cut from the town manager's requested budget, and then came back with another $2,000 cut Wednesday. Bland wanted to know what that would mean, in terms of a negative impact on the level of service the department would be providing to the citizens.

Perret said, "No, he's looking at a $60,083 increase now,"

Nazaroff told the committee that he and Finnigan had reviewed the new round of cuts and felt that they would not affect essential services.

But Finnigan said that as an example, looking at the police department, continuing training is important, but that the town may not be able to be involved in some more advanced training with the smaller budget.

"And we will hope our officers drive safely and done have accidents," said Finnigan. Although it was noted that during the recent storm and high winds, a willow tree fell on top of Gagne's cruiser, which was parked at his residence in Searsmont while he was off-duty, and caused substantial damage.

Bland said he still wanted to "circle back" and talk about the percentages of cuts and their impacts on the various departments, especially public safety, and Brosius-Scott agreed, saying that the budget committee now had more information than they did when they began meeting, and that this was the time to ask questions.

Cavalli, obviously growing frustrated along with others, reminded the committee that they had agreed to give the town manager the task of finding another round of cuts, and that's what she did.

"Here are are, at this seventh meeting of a five-week meeting month, and we agreed last week that we had a $93,000 deficit. Pat has explained that it is actually $120,000, and last week I made the statement that we hired a town manager to manage the town and the budget. The budget committee got to a point where we asked her to manage those additional cuts of $93,000 or $120,000. So my observation is we achieved what we wanted to achieve, but now people want to go through certain lines...I find it almost unreal that at this point we want to talk about $1,000."

When questioned by some committee members how the town would proceed if a department ran out of funds, or needed funds to make an unexpected purchase or repair, Finnigan said there were two options.

"If the fire department used up all their repair money budget, we would either go to the contingency account, or the select board is authorized to move money from one department to another," said Finnigan.

Sensing an end to the discussion and an impending motion, Nazaroff told the committee this has been a budget year with a lot of lessons learned.

"The committee this year has learned a lot, the town manager has learned a lot based on what the committee members went around the table and said [March 31] they wanted to see," said Nazaroff. "I suspect next year, with the orientation and what Pat has learned, next year you will see a totally different budget submitted to you. We need to get past all that, and approve a budget tonight."

With that, Bates made a motion, which was second by Freeman-White.

Following a few more questions, the budget committee was moved to the vote. The Camden municipal budget now heads to the Select Board for a workshop and then a public hearing, as its readied for the town warrant and town meeting.

Related links:

• No town employee raises this year, says Camden Budget Committee

Reach Editorial Director Holly S. Edwards at hollyedwards@penbaypilot.com and 207-706-6655