The polls will be open at the Boothbay Harbor Municipal Office on Friday, May 2 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Voters will be asked to choose two selectmen, one school committee member, one school district trustee, one sewer district trustee, and one water district trustee, and to decide whether they favor closing the Boothbay Harbor Communications Center.

The annual Boothbay Harbor Town Meeting will be held the following day, Saturday, May 3, at 9 a.m. at Boothbay Region Elementary School.

Town Manager Tom Woodin said that his goal for this town meeting is to ensure that the citizens are well-informed about the budget warrant articles and issues surrounding those decisions. To that end, Woodin will be providing a handout to meeting attendees that outlines the differences between the recommendations of the selectmen and budget committee. He said that he hopes that this year's town meeting will not be as contentious as last year's, but noted "What I've learned over the last year is you don't always control everything."

Town meeting voters will find that they do have more control this year than last year. Last year's town warrant was intentionally worded so that voters could only accept or lower the dollar value for each budget item. This year's warrant is worded so that voters can establish whatever amount they choose for each budget area.

The board of selectmen proposes reductions in town employees' raises and benefits that are not recommended by the budget committee or town manager. The selectmen recommend that the cost of living increase for all full-time, non-union town employees be reduced from three percent to two percent for a budget reduction of $13,390. In a measure to reduce the town's contribution to employees' individual health insurance policies (currently funded 100 percent by the town), the selectmen recommend that the town fund only 90 percent of those costs when these policies are renewed on January 1, 2009. They also voted to reduce the town's contribution to non-union employees' retirement accounts from 10 to seven percent, and the town's contribution to non-union employees' individual YMCA memberships from $279 per full-time employee to $140 per full-time employee. These three budget reductions would save an additional $44,770.

Other areas where the selectmen's budget recommendations were less than the budget committee's include no funding for riprap at the footbridge (BC recommended $2,800); $1,200 less for administrative travel/training; $10,000 less for the assessor's budget; $6,000 less for the accounting contract budget; $500 less for the DPW tires account; $2,000 less for emergency management travel/training and wages; $520 less for harbor management travel/training and supplies; $4,000 less for the police department's vehicle maintenance account; $5,000 less funding for the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library, and $3,600 less for parking facilities uniforms and wages.

The selectmen also chose to not set up a storm reserve account for $15,000 as recommended by the budget committee, but instead increased funds to the undesignated account. Similarly, they voted against placing $12,500 in a reserve account for a new police cruiser, in lieu of funding the full amount in the purchase year. In light of falling property values, the board also took a less aggressive savings approach to the property reevaluation reserve account and recommend $10,000 for this account rather than the $30,000 recommended by the budget committee.

The selectmen also recommend only $5,000 for the Boothbay Region Ambulance Service instead of the $58,398 requested by BRAS and recommended by the budget committee. In their April 14 meeting, Robert Ham, BRAS, explained to the board that if the town did not fund BRAS fully, they would present the town with a bill for each call to the Harbor once the appropriated funds were exhausted. If the Harbor fails to pay this bill, BRAS will not respond to calls for service from Boothbay Harbor. Woodin expressed concern that if the voters do not approve funding for BRAS, funds will have to be taken from the undesignated fund to pay these bills.

In some areas, the selectmen were more generous than the budget committee. They recommended increasing the heating fuel budget by $3,000; increasing travel/training for selectmen by $500; increasing the DPW paving budget by $20,000; funding the undesignated fund account at $144,000 (BC recommended $110,800) and the grant matching fund account at $25,000 (BC recommended $15,000). They also recommended $2,500 for St. Andrews Home Health (BC recommended 0) and $2,000 for the Historical Society (BC recommended $1,000).

Overall, the budget committee recommended $136,123 in reductions to the proposed town budget while the selectmen recommended a budget $242,618 lower than proposed.

The town manager, budget committee, and selectmen have done their work; now, it's up to the voters.