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Westbrook to Return to Town Meeting for Budget Vote

The Board of Selectman (BOS) has made the decision to once again conduct the town budget vote by town meeting rather than a referendum. The date for the budget vote has not been set yet.

Back in 2016, the BOS made the decision to stop conducting the annual budget approval process via a referendum and instead use a town meeting format. The reason cited at the time by then-first selectman Noel Bishop was the declining referendum turnout. While budget votes in Westbrook’s neighboring town of Clinton have been attention-grabbing affairs over the last decade, the same hubbub never crossed the town line to Westbrook. In 2015, only 245 voters came out to vote in the 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. referendum, which led the town to decide to do the town meeting form of vote.

Town meetings take much less time both to conduct and set up and are less expensive than an all-day referendum, though referenda traditionally offer a 14-hour window for voters to participate while a town meeting requires participation at a specific time.

However, the pandemic changed things. In 2020 with uncertainty about how to handle the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic swirling, an executive order gave towns the ability to pass the budgets on their own after a public hearing was held.

In 2021, the vote returned and the town actually held a referendum again as First Selectman John Hall explained to the Harbor News, “people weren’t really assembling due to COVID so rather than have people in one room, we had a referendum.”

Fewer than 100 people cast a vote in last year’s referendum.

Hall said that one of the big benefits to switching back to a town meeting vote is the ability for the town to once again publish a citizen’s voting guide.

“They’re helpful and we can’t publish one if we do a referendum,” said Hall.

The citizen’s guide is intended to inform voters before they vote about the budget and the state of the town’s finances. State guidance directs that the town remain neutral in its presentation of the budget details in any summary document presented to the voters.

Hall said that not date had been set yet for the town meeting. At press time the proposed budget is still underway.

The Board of Finance will hold a special meeting scheduled for Wednesday, March 30 at 6:30 p.m. to forward a proposed budget to voters.

On Monday, April 11 at 6:30 p.m., the town will hold a public hearing over the proposed budgets.