There is a new dawn in Edgecomb. First-year Selectman Dawn Murray was elected chairman of the board June 2 by a 2-0 vote. She succeeds Mike Smith who has served as chairman since Jack Sarmanian’s resignation in October. As chairman, Murray led the.
BILL. PEARSON Mon, 04/26/2021 - 2:30pm
In 2005, Maine enacted LD 1 to limit municipal, school and county spending to no more than a 5% increase without a voter override. LD 1 requires voter authorization through a special warrant article in order to exceed annual spending by 5%. But in Edgecomb, the special article hasn’t been on the warrant for years. On April 20, selectmen were asked if the municipal budget would exceed the 5% increase, and if an LD 1 warrant article would appear on the May town meeting referendum ballot.
All three selectmen responded they didn’t know about the law. Town Clerk Claudia Coffin reported the LD 1 article hadn’t been on the warrant for years. “My guess is that the selectmen stopped putting the tax levy limit on the warrant because they knew the vote would never exceed it. They were always careful to have capped money articles instead of opened-ended articles. They knew ahead of time pretty much what the maximum amount voted would