Abbot extends E-W highway moratorium

Knowles unhappy about county
budget increase

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    ABBOT — The Feb. 17 public hearing on extending a moratorium for the third time on constructing the proposed east-west highway through the town of Abbot was legally and widely advertised.
    But the general public apparently didn’t care to comment or were satisfied with the board of selectmen’s previous action.
    Except for two selectmen, Deputy Town Clerk Lorraine Leeman, Treasurer Heather Weymouth Pomerleau and a reporter, the only member of the public who showed up was a newcomer to the community: Tara Smith. And she said that her main reason for attending was to get acquainted with residents and see how her town government worked.

    Pomerleau passed out copies of two bills that would, if enacted, have an impact on the east-west corridor. “The concept of one of them is to eliminate unsolicited proposals from the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) law.
    The Maine Department of Transportation could still request proposals for a PPP for new transportation infrastructure that was consistent with state planning, but a private entity could not initiate proposals for new transportation infrastructure,” she explained. “This would preserve state control and accountability for transportation planning and infrastructure development.”
    The other bill, sponsored by Sen. Paul Davis of Sangerville, “would prevent eminent domain from being used by a private entity or in certain Public-Private-Partnerships on behalf of a private entity, by amending the PPP for Transportation Projects law, and the law that restricts eminent domain use,” Pomerleau said.
    Not knowing the exact route has been a “frustrating experience” for landowners who may be in the path of the corridor,” she added. “So these bills address part of that.”
    The proposal to build the $2.1 billion, privately funded corridor linking two Canadian provinces through the center of the state is still alive but on the back burner, a spokesman for the project told the Bangor Daily News.
    Darryl Brown, the program manager, said that Cianbro Corporation has “lowered the temperature on that project a little bit for a whole bunch of reasons.”
    But he added that Cianbro is still “very passionate about the fact that this corridor is much needed and certainly would provide a transportation alternative to the west and upper Midwest.”
    With only Selectmen Mickey Knowles and Basil Patterson present — John Libera was in Florida on vacation — the motion to approve the extension passed quickly.
    Nearby communities that have also passed laws in opposition to the corridor include Dover-Foxcroft, Sangerville, Parkman, Dexter and Garland.
    The board spent the remainder of the short meeting dealing with routine business such as signing warrants.
    Knowles commented that the town’s budget committee finished their work recently and praised them for “holding the line” on expenditures once again.
    The new budget calls for $212,086 to be taken from taxation for municipal expenditures, compared to $212,270 last year.
    The gross budget, not including county and school taxes, is pegged at $372,814, up from $358,270. This includes $133,500 taken from unexpended revenue compared to $126,000 last year.
    Knowles said that a recent article in the Observer “really got me going when I read that the county is buying four new cruisers and a $25,000 generator. Why four new cruisers in the same year? And then why are they spending that much money on a generator in the same year?”
    Knowles said that the town has cut $106,000 from its budget during the last two years. “But this year, we’re paying $4,500 more in county taxes. It’s just very frustrating for us,” he said. “When you look at the elderly people in this town who struggle to pay their taxes, it’s disturbing.”
    Budget Committee Chairman Walter Boomsma said later that “one of the frustrations we face as a budget committee is how little of the town’s budget we can control. The portion the budget committee reviews and can affect is typically below 30 percent of the total with the other 70 percent including school and county spending, revenue sharing, and state mandates. But that doesn’t keep us from making a real effort to keep our municipal spending both low and effective.”
    Boomsma said that Abbot changed its budget committee concept three years ago by creating a formally- appointed committee with three year terms.
    “One of the benefits we’ve seen is continuity and a long-term view,” he told the Observer. “We’re not just looking at the question of ‘What happens this year?’ but are also watching the long term financial condition of our town.”
    The Abbot Board of Selectmen meets on the third Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m., and the annual town meeting is on Monday, March 16 at 7 p.m. at the municipal building.

Davis’ bill will address eminent domain provisions