By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — With the in-person annual town meeting six weeks away, the Town of Naples finalized its proposed budget, putting into place the warrant articles people will vote on.

Last Monday, the Naples Board of Selectmen met jointly with the Naples Budget Committee to each vote whether or not to recommend the warrant articles.

The proposed municipal budget — which includes school and county taxes — is more than $13 million. However, that number is a moving target because the fiscal year won’t be wrapped up until June 30. 

Since last year, the total expenditures have gone up about five percent, which equates into an increase of $500,000. Meanwhile the anticipated revenues are expected to rise by two percent. The budget planners are leaning toward lower revenue numbers to be on the safe side. Only time will tell whether some revenue will materialize. 

Last week, on March 17, the public hearing on the budget was held. No one was present. Naples Town Manager John Hawley gave a presentation to the budget committee.  

“Every year presents new challenges. And, the service demands expected of the municipality continue to grow as people relocate and make their homes in Naples,” Hawley said.  

“Having now completed one of the most unique years in my decades of municipal employment, which is continuing into this year, there are still many unknowns as we prepare the following year’s budget. So far, we are doing very well with both the receipt of our revenuesand keeping our expenditures in check. The budget we have proposed is expected to do the same,” he said.

“Most people will jump directly to the bottom line, where it currently appears as though we are proposing a tax increase. It is important to note that that bottom line figures cannot be determined until all of the new assessed valuations are completed and the anticipated taxes to be collected are determined. The new assessed value should offset that current figure. This happens when the [board of selectmen] sets the mil rate in August, and I can reasonably assure you, it will not be different from previous years,” he said. 

The town’s current tax rate is $13.35. 

Hawley pointed out some of the highlights.

In Capital Reserves account, “we are proposing a $385,100 increase over the previous year. This is because we opted not to fund the reserves accounts last year as a precaution if the pandemic greatly impacted our anticipated revenue,” he said. 

With help from community members, the town put some focus on taking care of the most visible cemeteries. Money was spent a few years ago on headstone repairs and replacements. 

“Capital improvement — This line was up  $20,000 to allow for additional cemetery improvements and increase to the matching requirement for the grant received by DEP for the stream crossing on Horace Files and Edes Falls roads,” he said. 

In 2020, when the state was under quarantine, there was a spike in people using the Casco-Naples Bulky Waste Facility as well as the transfer station. 

“Sanitation . . .  has increased this year primarily because the costs are driven directly by its use rate. The more people recycle and throw away, the more costly it is to operate the shared facility with Casco. With so many people staying at home, it was a perfect opportunity to clean out the house, and a lot of that ended up at the” bulky waste facility, he said.’

Usually, most towns might see a rise in administration because of health insurance or cost-of-living increases or need for part-time position to support staff. This continues to be the case. 

The proposed budget shows a decrease in the Administration Account because a department cost was shifted to another account, Hawley explained.

“Although this looks like a significantreduction, you will see that Code Enforcement and planning expenses have been pulled out the administrativeline. This was to offer better transparency so folks have a better idea of what certain services cost the town,” Hawley said.  

Administration is $633,900 and Code Enforcement & Planning is $132,290. 

“If you add the two budget lines together, you will see a $69,402 increase. These increases are due to hour increases in the finance department and clerk’s office, annual wage and corresponding tax increases, health benefit changes, legal expenses, and computer and IT services,” Hawley said. 

Likewise, fire department, rescue, animal control and dispatch saw rises in cost because of increases for employees. 

Another department that increased in cost is the Marine Safety since that has expanded in the past two years. Marine safety account is $90,000. 

It was noted during the joint budget meeting of the committee and the selectmen, that Marine Safety will now be collecting revenue from boating fines. A legal snafu prevented the town from being able to enforce fines — even though everyone had passed the ordinance at town meeting.

Besides personnelexpenses, the Marine Safety budget has increases in equipment maintenance and a newly proposed Marine warden Services’ contract position. 

If passed by voters, the warden “position is full-time position from Memorial Day to Labor Day with a warden dedicated to patrollingfor Naples and Harrison. The town Of Harrison will cover half of the expense for that position,” Hawley said. 

One cost was reduced: The town’s General Obligation Debt Account dropped by $18,000 a year because the town paid off the ladder truck bond. 

Hawley ended talking about the town having a healthy fund balance. In 2019, the town ended the year with $6.3 million in the Fund Balance, and of that  $4.1 million was undesignated money. It is recommended that the town keep aside enough savings to cover a catastrophe, which is about $3.2 million for Naples. Until the newest fund balance is known through an audit of the 20-21 budget, the question of putting the UFB toward offsetting taxes or toward an expense cannot be answered.

A draft of the Warrant Articles are available on the town’s website, and paper copies can be picked up at the Naples Town Office.