VASSALBORO — Three local referendums on the Nov. 5 ballot are expected to ask voters their thoughts on road repairs, environmental cleanup projects and the Vassalboro Sanitary District’s charter.
The first two questions focus on allocating Vassalboro’s tax increment financing, or TIF, funds toward a series of current and future environmental improvement projects, while the third question asks if voters should directly elect the sanitary district’s board of trustees.
The first question asks residents whether to appropriate $360,000 of Vassalboro’s undesignated or TIF funding to replace the Dunlap bridge on Mill Hill Road.
The second question asks about using TIF funds for environmental projects in the future.
The Dunlap bridge is really more of a double culvert, officials said, letting the Seven Mile Brook and local alewife population flow underneath Mill Hill Road and into Webber Pond.
The bridge project is expected to cost about $1.8 million in total, with additional funding coming from state and federal grants, Chairman Chris French of the Vassalboro Select Board said at an Oct. 3 public hearing on the referendums.
“It’s important that this passes so that we can tap into the TIF fund so we don’t have to go after tax money to replace this bridge,” French said. “However, we haven’t been given that go ahead from the state or federal government that we’ve received the grant money yet.”
The vast majority of Vassalboro’s TIF funding comes from taxes on the natural gas pipeline that runs through the town.
The referendum is not asking voters to raise new money, but, rather, to dole out existing funds, Town Manager Aaron Miller said during the public hearing.
Officials were considering a number of other replacement bridge designs, all of which cost less in total, but would have required Vassalboro to raise more tax funding because they did not meet the requirements for additional grants.
“This is not a state bridge. We own the bridge, because it’s not going over traffic,” French said. “If the bridge fails, the town is on the hook to replace it. The most expensive option is the cheapest for the town, which is the $1.8 million bridge.”
The first referendum dovetails with the second, which also asks about using TIF revenues for environmental cleanup projects. Vassalboro officials are seeking voters’ approval to use TIF funds for future environmental improvement projects in the town. Officials said the change would make it easier for the town to begin work that would benefit its waterways and natural resources.
The third referendum is about amending the Vassalboro Sanitary District’s charter to allow its board members to be directly elected.
The sanitary district is a quasi-municipal company founded in 1970 and separated from the town’s government in 2017. It provides sewage services to about 200 of Vassalboro’s roughly 4,500 residents.
Questions have arisen over the district’s leadership after Vassalboro residents voiced frustration for months about skyrocketing bills, and the announcement that three of its five board members will not stay in their seats through next year.
The district’s charter does not explicitly outline the process of admitting new members to its five-person board of trustees, causing municipal lawyers to raise concerns about its legality when the district moved in April to fill a long-standing vacancy on the board.
The concerns were exacerbated this summer when board member Lee Trahan abruptly resigned, as Ray Breton and Alfred Roy have announced their intent to step down in December.
While the district’s charter outlines term limits, meeting structures and ethical guidelines for Vassalboro Sanitary District trustees, it does not specify how they assume office. The referendum is intended to clarify that board members are to be directly elected by the public.
“We talked about allowing plurality voting, and this is a step in that direction,” Miller said at the public hearing.
If the question is approved by voters and a board member steps down before their term ends, Vassalboro’s Select Board would appoint someone to fill the remainder of the term, according to French.
Vassalboro does not have any candidates for municipal office on the ballot this year, according to Town Clerk Cathy Coyne.
Voting is set for 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 5 at Vassalboro Community School at 1116 Webber Pond Road. Unenrolled voters can register with identification and proof of residency at the Town Office at 682 Main St. or at the polls.
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