RANDOLPH — Residents at Wednesday night’s Town Meeting voted to continue supporting the Gardiner Public Library, rejected recommendations from the Board of Selectmen and the Budget Committee to instead reimburse people to get library cards elsewhere.
The library issue was by the far lengthiest, most contentious article of the $1.9 million budget discussed at the meeting Wednesday night at T.C. Hamlin School attended by 75 residents. Both the select board and the Budget Committee wanted to raise the same amount requested by the library — $17,328 — but instead designate the money to reimburse individuals getting their own cards.
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After nearly an hour of discussion, residents overwhelmingly passed an amended article to stay with the library.
Several residents were upset the Gardiner City Council voted earlier this month to suspend the issuing of new library cards to people from towns not supporting the library. Some opposed to staying with the library called the three-year moratorium on nonresident cards “strong-arming” and “a pre-emptive nuclear strike.”
“They didn’t have to close this door,” said Douglas Mock, a member of the Budget Committee. “They chose it as a tactic to make us go one way. It’s a tactic I don’t appreciate.”
About a half dozen residents spoke in favor of staying with the library, which also serves Gardiner, West Gardiner, Pittston and Litchfield.
Not supporting the library would “really, really hurt our children,” said Candace Avery, a school board representative for the town. “It’s going to hurt our elderly people who may not have transportation to Augusta. I just think it’s a very, very bad idea.”
Around a third of the meeting attendees left after the library vote.
The total budget passed by residents, $1,926,350, which included the school and county budgets, was about $160,000 higher than the budget approved last year and about $16,000 less than what the select board recommended.
The effect on the tax rate won’t be known until the town receives its new valuation in the next couple of weeks, according to Janet Richards, tax collector, treasurer and deputy town clerk.
Richards said Thursday that the property tax rate of $16 per $1,000 of assessed value would increase by a little more than $1.50 per $1,000 of value if everything else stayed the same.
Residents at the meeting rejected a select board recommendation of raising $6,800 for a computer system update for online vehicle registration. Voters also rejected a recommendation from both the board and the Budget Committee to pay $1,100 for a computer system to allow the town office to accept credit and debit card payments.
Bob Henderson, chairman of the select board, said at the meeting that the system to allow credit and debit card payments is something that’s been requested by residents for a while.
“I’ve seen it. They’ve been in the town office, and they have to leave to go get cash. If we had this setup, they wouldn’t have to do this,” he said.
Voters, however, supported the select board and committee’s recommendations of borrowing $20,000 from the town’s revolving loan fund to pay for replacing the town office roof.
Paul Koenig — 621-5663
Twitter: @paul_koenig
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