Peru Concerned Citizens: 2011

Now that Peru voters have approved (by nearly a 4-to-1 margin) a 180-day moratorium on industrial wind-power development, a citizens' committee will begin work on a local ordinance to regulate such development in the future. Right now primary permitting authority rests with Maine's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The voting on November 8 clearly shows that the townspeople would like permitting standards that are more restrictive than DEP's.

The Peru Wind Power Committee will meet on Wednesday, November 16th, at 6 p.m. at the Town Office. Volunteers wishing to join the Committee are encouraged to attend. Those wishing to voice comments or questions are also invited. It is anticipated that the Committee will meet biweekly for several months; all meetings will be open to the public. Once the Committee has prepared a draft ordinance, it will be presented at a minimum of two public hearings, allowing for feedback from the community and further revision, if necessary. A final draft will be submitted to a townwide vote by referendum, most likely on Primary Day next June.

DEP regulations remain in effect in Peru unless and until the Town votes to adopt a local ordinance. The moratorium prevents any development of an industrial wind-power facility and tables any permit application for such development until the expiration date next May. The November vote gives the Board of Selectmen the authority to extend the moratorium at its discretion as deemed necessary.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Delinquency Rate Exceeds 10 Percent

Town Clerk Vera Parent reported at last night's Selectmen's meeting that she has collected 45% of the taxes committed for the fiscal year beginning July 1. With first-half property-tax payments due by July 29, she should have had 50%. A year ago she had 54% of the FY2011 commitment by the end of July, a figure that demonstrates the preference of some taxpayers to pay their full year's assessment up front. Undoubtedly there were prepayments this year as well. All of this means that at a minimum ten percent (and probably more) of the taxes due on July 29 were not paid.

Take the total FY2012 commitment of $1,848,973, divide by 2 (the other half is due in February), then multiply by 10%. The result is an underpayment of $92,449. The good news is that the shortfall has been offset almost exactly by the recent receipt of $92,124 from the State as partial reimbursement for the sand-salt shed constructed in 2006. The bad news is that tax receivables have swelled to over a quarter of a million dollars, calling into question the Town's ability and/or willingness to fund municipal and school spending at current levels. Selectmen are awaiting the final audit, coming shortly, for FY2011.

One area where the Selectmen are looking to cut is the Deputy Clerk's position. The Town Office budget drafted a week earlier limited the deputy's hours to 250 for the year for gross wages of $2,000. Last night Ms. Parent complained about the cut, saying that she feels "targeted." She was able to talk the Board back up to $2,500, which is still less than half what was paid the deputy in FY2011. Another $500 (or more) in previously announced cuts disappeared with new information from Central Maine Power about the costs of street lights. The Board is now right up against the $62,900 cap imposed by the townspeople, with no margin for unforeseen contingencies.

One suggestion made was to cut the line item for cleaning the Town Office. So bring your Germ-X wipes when you go to pay your second-half taxes.

[update 08-16-11, one week later:]

Last night the Selectmen were presented with Liza Virgin's letter of resignation as Deputy Clerk, effective August 19. A disappointed Town Clerk presumed that the limited hours offered by the Selectmen for the deputy's position were insufficient to entice Ms. Virgin to stay. The Town Clerk pointed out to the Board that it is she, not they, who will appoint a replacement.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Selectmen Find Ten Grand Under the Mattress

Peru's Selectmen have been scrambling ever since the voters rejected (twice) a request for an appropriation of $72,900 for Town Office operations for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2011. The voters approved $62,900 instead, a number recommended by the Finance Committee and one that exceeds what was actually spent in FY2011 for the same line items. The extra $10,000 was considered necessary to cover $4,500 in annual "maintenance" for the Town's new super-dee-dooper computer software, plus $4,200 for a new health benefit for the Selectmen's secretary, another $500 for rising heating costs, and $800 just because.

At last night's meeting the Board continued its exhaustive search for nickels and dimes. There was a lengthy discussion about where exactly the Town's street lights are located and whether we needed every single one of them, inviting the question, how many selectmen does it take to turn off a light bulb? Ultimately it was decided that the allocation for street lights might be trimmed by $1,000 by dousing four or five lights, although a follow-up call to CMP is needed to confirm the actual savings, if any.

As the process moved on, the Town Clerk's deputy was the big loser. The Selectmen decided to cut the position back to 250 hours for the year, which would save the Town $3,500. The amount set aside for assessing was reduced by $2,000. $800 of the secretary's wages will come from the Planning Board's budget instead. Phone expenses will be trimmed by almost $800, office supplies by $600, and janitorial supplies by $200. The Selectmen hope that $1,400 in "other" expenses incurred in FY2011 will not crop up again in FY2012. Such wishful thinking brings the "savings" to a little over ten grand. Mission accomplished.

This hit list is considered a rough draft and is subject to further tinkering.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Selectmen Skirt Budget Issue

At their weekly meeting last night, Peru's Selectmen got some encouraging news about the Town's fiscal standing. Chair Tim Holland read a letter from Maine DOT that a long-awaited check for the state's share of the Town's new sand/salt shed, constructed five years ago, will be arriving "shortly." Exact amount: $92,123.61. Add an expected hike in Municipal Revenue Sharing in FY2012 of $7,773 (according to revised projections released earlier this month by the State Treasurer's office), and you get a year-over-year revenue boost of almost 100 grand.

Auditor Keel Hood was present to update the Board on his inspection of the Town's books. He will finish his on-site activity on Tuesday and told the Selectmen that "I do not anticipate major problems." Though he does not yet have final figures, he expects to find that the undesignated surplus at fiscal year-end was about the same as a year ago. Unpaid taxes have not increased dramatically in the past year, but Hood warned the Board that aging liens are "a sign that people are having a hard time paying their taxes." The townspeople should have the audit in their hands at least a month earlier than they did in 2010.

On the spending side, the Selectmen were still struggling with how to shave $10,000 from the Town Office budget, as per the voters' directive of June 28. Under consideration is a reduction in the amount set aside for annual assessing from $7,000 to $5,000. Wages for the Deputy Town Clerk may be dropped from $5,000 to $3,000. However, those cuts will be offset by $4,500 for software updates and IT support, an amount somehow omitted during budget deliberations last spring. The position of Selectmen's Secretary was described as a "fixed" cost by Holland, who cannot see the Board functioning without a full-time secretary.

If the Town picks up the secretary's health insurance on January 1, 2012, as planned, then the costs of that position will rise to nearly half of the budget target for Town Office operations. Everything else is small change. One is reminded of the legendary remark by Willie Sutton, when asked why he robbed banks. "Because that's where the money is," said Willie. At some point during the fiscal year, the Board will finally have to recognize where the money is.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Townspeople Re-vote Two Spending Articles

RESULTS:

Special town meeting: Tuesday, June 28, 6 p.m.

location: old Peru School auditorium

Two articles rejected by Peru voters at the June 14 budget referendum were revisited at a special town meeting two weeks later in the old grammar-school gym. A recommendation by the Board of Selectmen to raise $72,900 for Town Office operations for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2011, was quickly amended to raise $62,900, or $10,000 less. The amended article was approved by a vote of 68 to 33. An article to raise $10,000 to maintain the grammar-school building for one more year was flatly rejected. Instead, a motion to raise zero dollars was passed by a margin of 72 to 28, reflecting the wish of the voters present to close-and-dispose.

The two articles had appeared as Articles 7 and 8 on the June 14 ballot.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

New Fiscal Year, Another Record Budget

See PCC's voter alert here.

Informational meeting: Tuesday, May 24, 6 p.m.

Sun Journal coverage here.

Times coverage here.

Town vote: Tuesday, June 14, all day

As the country slides into a double-dip recession, town and school officials in Peru are proposing to raise a record amount of money in the fiscal year that begins July 1. The municipal budget, if approved by the voters on June 14, will drop by 0.9% to $697,401.19 (a figure that excludes school and county assessments). But do not mistake that small dip for a New Austerity, as it follows on the heels of last year's ginormous 19% hike. The Selectmen propose to keep this elevated level of spending despite all of the following:

a vote by the townspeople last June 8 NOT to raise the tax levy limit beyond the LD 1 constraint
a later petition signed by over 200 townspeople to restore the tax levy limit in effect immediately following the June 8 vote
unpaid tax receivables totaling over a quarter of a million dollars as of May 1
an increase of nearly $4,000 in the county assessment for FY 2012
an increase of over $76,000 in the school assessment for FY 2012
no meaningful recovery in municipal revenue sharing from the State

The biggest line-item increases in the municipal budget can be attributed to the rising costs of health insurance for town employees. Currently employees make no contribution to their health coverage; the Town picks up 100% of the premiums for a zero-deductible policy. Such a generous benefit is rare in the private sector and no longer offered in the regional school district, where teachers see a payroll deduction to help cover rising premiums.

Peru Concerned Citizens recommends a "NO" vote on Articles 5, 7, and 11. [A link to the June 14 ballot appears top right.] Those are the three articles where the Town's health costs are embedded. A "NO" vote on any spending article triggers a default appropriation of 80% of the prior year's budget for that line item. The Selectmen have the option of resubmitting spending articles for the voters' reconsideration. If the Selectmen choose that path, it is the hope of Peru Concerned Citizens that rejected articles are revised downward better to reflect the wishes of the townspeople, also that any re-vote be conducted by referendum through day-long polling and NOT by a sparsely attended special town meeting.

The Finance Committee recommends a "NO" vote on Article 7 for a separate reason, viz. that there should be savings in the Town Office budget because of the Town's recent investment of $25,000+ in computer software/hardware.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Peru Wind Power Committee to host DEP's Jim Cassida on Feb. 9

Wednesday, February 9

6 p.m.

Peru Town Office

[Sun Journal coverage here, meeting notes here]

Jim Cassida, the licensing coordinator for Maine DEP's Division of Land Resource Regulation, will review existing state regulations for grid-scale wind-power development. The Town of Peru currently has no local ordinance for regulating such development. Thus, the Department of Environmental Protection would be the sole permitting authority for any application that might come forward for a wind-power site in Peru.

A local committee has recently formed to consider whether the Town needs tighter standards than what the state allows. The committee, chaired by Planning Board Chairman Stephen Fuller, met for the first time on January 25 (meeting notes here). There are still openings on the committee for any Peru residents who would like to get involved. Wednesday night's meeting is open to the public, and Mr. Cassida will be answering questions from those in attendance.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

A Few Thousand Here, A Few Thousand There

Last night the Peru Selectmen got an update on plans for a new home base for the Northern Oxford Regional Ambulance Service (known as Med-Care by the locals). Jim Pulsifer, a former selectman himself and long-time member of the NORAS Board of Directors, explained that the new facility would be located on a 3-to-4-acre parcel on River Road in Mexico, adjacent to the Oxford Federal Credit Union. Here are some bullet points:

total cost of project: $1.8 million
four double-bays, with doors front and back
30-year mortgage
debt service not to exceed $115,000 annually
local assessments to increase by $2 per capita per annum

Pulsifer described the $1.8 million as a cautious estimate to eliminate any upside surprises. The final cost of the project could well come in under that amount and would be reduced by the proceeds of the sale of the current facility. Pulsifer said that he would be satisfied if the sale price for the old site ended up offsetting the cost of the land at the new site ($100,000).

The proposed construction comes three years after an earlier attempt by Med-Care to expand generated considerable controversy in the River Valley (refresh your memory here). The increase in Peru's subsidy to Med-Care will come to about $3,100 annually. NORAS hopes to finance the project through the Maine Bond Bank, which consolidates public-sector borrowings into tax-advantaged bonds. The only thing that could stop the project now, Pulsifer said, would be an excessively high interest rate approaching, say, five percent. A favorable interest rate, it must be recognized, is not a given in today's municipal bond market. Fears of defaults by states and/or cities have cratered the muni bond market, as can be seen in the chart below (lower bond prices, remember, mean higher yields):

price of iShares S&P National Municipal Bond Fund

In other business, the Selectmen decided to delay restructuring health benefits for town employees until the beginning of the next fiscal year on July 1. Keeping the "Cadillac" plan now in place will cost the Town an extra $100 per month per employee, or about $2,400 for the January-to-June period. After July 1, employees will have the option to keep their current coverage by paying the $100 difference in monthly premiums out of pocket. Interestingly, the plan administrator is of the opinion that employees would not likely take the bait, as the marginal benefits received would not be worth the added cost.

Think about that for a minute. The Town, at least until July 1, is picking up an option that would make no sense to an individual shopping on his own. For the record, Selectman Tim Holland favored an immediate changeover, while Laurieann Milligan and Ed Ferland voted to delay. Rick Vaughn and Kathy Hussey, as town employees, abstained from the voting.

MORE SLIPPAGE: Peru's Municipal Revenue Sharing distribution for January was $8,745, or $300 less than January 2010. This reversed a trend over the prior four months in which MRS payments were up year-over-year. Year-to-date the Town has received almost $1,000 less than last year. If we extrapolate the January shortfall over the final five months of the fiscal year, Peru's total distribution for the year will end up down $2,500 from FY2010 and over $4,000 below the State's projection.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Peru To Tackle Wind-Power Ordinance

The Peru Selectmen last night met with the Planning Board to discuss steps toward developing a local ordinance for regulating wind-power development. Although the Town has not been approached with any proposal for a wind-power project to date, both boards feel that putting a local ordinance in place will give Peru citizens a better opportunity to have a say as to whether, where, and how such development would be allowed. The nearby towns of Woodstock, Buckfield, Sumner, Rumford, Roxbury, Carthage, Dixfield, and Canton are all being considered as possible host communities for wind-power projects. It is reasonable to believe that Peru may be next.

Last month Peru joined a consortium of towns working on ordinance provisions that could be shared by all. The Bethel Area Wind Power Committee (with representatives from Bethel, Newry, Hanover, Greenwood, and Woodstock) came up with a work product (view here) that Peru intends to use as a starting point for its own ordinance. The regional committee was seeking a balanced set of guidelines that would be construed as neither pro-wind nor anti-wind.

Peru residents who wish to volunteer to serve on an ad hoc committee to help develop a local wind-power ordinance are invited to attend a meeting of the Planning Board on Tuesday, January 25, at 6 p.m. at the Peru Town Office.