There were only 26 registered voters at the Wednesday, July 2 Boothbay Harbor town meeting, but that was enough to give the board of selectmen the assurance they needed to sign off on the town's warrants.

Selectman Bruce Engert opened the discussion portion of the meeting by explaining that the expenses for fiscal year 2007-08 exceeded the expenditures approved at the May 2007 town meeting. At their last meeting on June 23, the board refused to sign off on payment of town expenses over that approved by voters because of the concern that they could be held personally liable for any budget overages. In a typical year budget overages are covered by the undesignated fund account, however, Boothbay Harbor's undesignated fund had been exhausted by previous years' mismanagement. "All we are asking is for you to relieve us of any personal responsibility," stated Engert. Engert further explained that revenues were expected to exceed expenses for the fiscal year, and that the board and finance officer did not expect a negative balance.

Elbridge Giles asked what would happen if there was no surplus. Selectman Denise Griffin replied that the town's finance officer, Julia Latter, was projecting a surplus. "We have the money but felt that we didn't have the authorization," she explained.

Mary Neal and John O'Connell raised concerns about the lack of adequate public notice for the meeting, and that the wording of the town warrant lacked specifics. "Tonight we are being asked to hope there is enough money to be in a surplus to cover some expenditure that we don't have a figure for either . . . We're lacking information here. It's wide open," said O'Connell. Neal concurred, "I'm unable to vote on an action when the figures are mysterious."

Sarah Sample disagreed, "Julia (Latter) is very good about giving all the financial figures at every meeting . . . Tom Woodin's probably the most transparent town manager we have ever had . . . If you pay attention, you know what's going on . . . this is about people protecting themselves."

Wayne Sheridan said, "In defense of the board, the town voted for $7.2 million and there's no legal authorization without the town coming back and giving it. If I were on the board, I would take the same stance." Giles said that he agreed with Sheridan 100 percent, "I don't see any reason why this shouldn't be cleaned up."

After further discussion about the town's financial status and the undesignated fund, selectman Linc Sample moved the question, "Tonight is not the time to solve the budgetary woes of Boothbay Harbor. Tonight is the time to figure out if the townspeople are going to let us pay the bills for the last fiscal year."

Voters overwhelmingly supported the warrant article. In a separate meeting immediately following the vote, the board of selectmen approved the remaining warrants for the fiscal year that ended on June 30.