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Westbrook Budget Vote Moves from Referendum to Town Meeting

After a decade of taking town budgets directly to a town-wide referendum, which gives voters a full day (as with elections) to weigh in on town spending, both the boards of Selectmen and Finance want this year’s proposed budget to be decided by a 7 p.m. Town Meeting vote on Wednesday, May 11 instead.

Both Selectman Mary Labbadia and First Selectman Noel Bishop attended the Board of Finance (BOF) meeting at which the question of referendum versus town meeting vote on the budget was discussed. Labbadia shared her view of the BOF’s discussion of the topic with the Board of Selectmen (BOS).

“By the end of the BOF meeting, all agreed it was worth a try to go to budget approval at Town Meeting on May 11,” said Labbadia at the March 14 BOS meeting.

Bishop said that voter participation in the annual budget referendum vote has steadily declined over the last few years. Last year, only 245 people came out to cast ballots. The two years before that had a similarly low turnout. As a result, Bishop said he favored having the budget vote move to Town Meeting.

“If we do this, we should do everything we can to make our public aware of this procedural change,” said Bishop.

As a Town Meeting requires interested voters be able to attend the meeting at a set time, rather than the day-long window of a referendum, the question arose about the possible greater inconvenience for out-of-town property owners, who are also eligible to vote. Town Clerk Joan Angelini told the BOS that in 2012, no property owners cast ballots in the budget referendum while in 2013 and 2014, just one property owner did; two property owners voted in 2015.

Town Tax Collector Kim Bratz favored the change. In the last few years, the town referendum vote has come late in May, which put Westbrook at the back of the vendor’s list for printing up and then mailing out the tax bills.

“If we don’t get to the top of the list of the vendor, our bills go out late,” said Bratz. “I want to emphasize that this change will help everybody—staff and town—to get the process smoother.”

To make sure the public is informed about the budget details in advance of the Town Meeting vote, the Board of Selectmen commented that they support a plan for the town to prepare and distribute a citizens’ guide to the proposed budget.

Town Attorney Michael Wells did ask that the town staff send him a draft of the document before it’s mailed out. State guidance directs that the town remain neutral in its presentation of the budget details in any summary document presented to the voters.

At the close of the discussion, Selectman John Hall, III moved that the town act on a budget at the annual Town Budget Meeting scheduled for Wednesday, May 11 at 7 p.m. The motion passed unanimously.