Select Board Meeting ~ April 28, 2026

2026-04-28 · Select Board · 2:34:08 · watch on YouTube →

The Select Board met on April 28, 2026 and gave most of the evening to a joint session with the Budget Committee, which had asked to move its question session from May 5 to this date so it would have more time before its recommendations are due on May 7. Before that the board amended the fee schedule on George's recommendation, replacing the per-square-foot fee for solar energy systems with a per-acre site plan review fee, adding fees for subdivision sketch plans, amended plans and private way maintenance agreements, and dropping the fee for an applicant who comes to a meeting unprepared. Budget Committee members then questioned the board, the town manager, the town's accountant and department heads for about two hours, first on whether the budget should estimate taxable valuation and what the projected mill rate actually means, then on wages and the HR consultant, reserves, and a long run of individual line items. Mark, the town's accountant, closed with figures showing the county and school shares of the tax bill rising while the municipal share has fallen from about 20% to 11 or 12%. Nothing in the budget itself was changed at this meeting. The board asked the town manager to draft warrant language for a paving reserve and agreed to hold a straw poll on changing the order of town meeting until November.

No written minutes could be matched to this meeting. The transcript records that the speaker changed but never who was speaking, so any name attached to a statement below is inferred from context and is marked (?).

What was discussed

1. 0:12
   Opening, public comment and minutes

   The chair waited a few minutes for George, who was first on the agenda, then called the meeting to order at 6:31 p.m. with a quorum. In public comment, Joe Gaston (?) of Stackpole Road (?) asked the board to make road maintenance a capital improvement fund with money set aside for it, saying it has historically been one of the town's biggest bond items and is going to become a concerning financial area. Josh (?) moved to approve the previous meeting's minutes and Rebecca (?) seconded.

2. 0:12
   Fee schedule amendments presented

   George (?) said the current per-square-foot fee on panel area produces a fee out of all proportion to what the town actually does on a solar application, and recommended a per-acre site plan review fee calibrated to the workload of a typical 13-lot residential subdivision, with the peer review fee treated the same way. He said the town has no fee at all for subdivision sketch plans, amended plans or private way maintenance agreements, each of which takes considerable staff time. The third change drops the fee for an applicant who comes to a meeting unprepared, because completeness is discussed at most reviews and there is no way to predict or calibrate when the fee should apply.

3. 6:08
   Questions on the fee schedule, and the vote

   George (?) said the recommendation comes primarily from staff rather than the whole Planning Board, though he has reviewed it with the Planning Board chairman, who supports it, and that the unprepared-applicant fee has never been charged. John (?) said he had looked for what other towns charge and found the town of Warren had hit a solar developer with a $130,000 fee on a five-megawatt project, negotiated down from $193,000, and noted that under state law a town cannot charge a developer more than the review costs the town. Josh (?) moved to accept the proposal and Deb (?) seconded; the chair said the change reflects feedback raised at last year's town meeting that parts of the new solar ordinance were too harsh on developers.

4. 6:08
   Joint session with the Budget Committee opens

   The chair said the committee had asked to come in on the 28th rather than the 5th because it suited its schedule and gave it more time before its recommendations are due on May 7. No questions had been sent in advance; a committee member said neighbours like hearing the question and the answer together, and the chair said advance questions would at least let the board prepare. The chair offered a written response before the committee next meets for anything the board, staff or the town's accountant could not answer on the night.

5. 11:18
   Introductions

   Those who introduced themselves were Milt Simon of Stackpole Road, chair of the Budget Committee; Jill, the vice chair, also of Stackpole Road; Phyllis Brandon (?) of Brookside Drive; Donna (?) of Brunswick Road; Neil Barry (?) of Stackpole Road; Mark Dur (?) of Stackpole Road; and Alan Purrington (?). Surnames are given as the recording renders them and several are uncertain. The Mark on the Budget Committee is a different person from Mark, the town's accountant, who answered financial questions through the evening.

6. 11:18
   Budget percentage and a missing $15,000

   A committee member said the figure on the agenda, 13.4%, did not match the budget the board had just adopted, and that a $15,000 crack sealing amount amended in from the floor at the last meeting was missing. The board said the figure presented to the committee was 13.5%, that the sheet had been adjusted that day, and offered to correct any scrivener's error. Both 13.4% and 13.5% were used at different points in the meeting.

7. 11:18
   Whether the budget should estimate taxable valuation

   Alan (?) asked why the summary page shows no change in taxable valuation when the code officer's report shows 33 permits issued last year. The chair said the town deliberately budgets on the existing valuation and brings the mill rate down once the assessor produces the actual figure, citing a year when a proposed 3.5% increase became 2.9% at mill rate setting, and said John had raised adding an estimate a few meetings ago but the board preferred not to guess and be wrong.

8. 16:26
   The projection is a worst case, the accountant said

   Mark (?) said valuations are set as of April 1 but are not known until the assessor finishes, usually in June or July, so the last two lines on the summary page are a projection using last year's valuation and therefore a worst-case mill rate, and that this year's revaluation makes the projected rate even less like the eventual one. A committee member said 33 permits does not mean 33 finished homes and that a 13.5% increase should be pushed down wherever possible. Asked about the valuation figures on page one, Mark (?) said the 389,647 in the actual column reflects the valuation as of April 1, 2025, and that last year's budget column would have carried 382,819.

9. 21:50
   Disagreement over the effect on taxpayers

   A committee member said the valuation may not change the budgeting but it certainly changes the impact on the taxpayer, and that the board uses it to set the mill rate. The chair and Mark (?) said it does not change the impact: once the voters adopt a budget, the same amount is raised, and the valuation only sets how that total is divided. Mark (?) said comparing one year's mill rate with another's, or Durham's with another town's, compares different things, and that what to look at is the property tax levy and the budgeted expenditures and revenues.

10. 26:59
    What a taxpayer actually pays

    A committee member said voters will see 13.5% but the August tax bill should be lower once six or seven million dollars of added valuation comes in. Mark (?) said the mill rate percentage would change but the levy would not, and worked through an example: if a $100,000 house and every other property rose 2% and the budget were unchanged, the mill rate would fall but the same tax would be paid. A member noted that without a revaluation his own assessment does not move while new homes are valued at current standards, so the burden shifts between taxpayers rather than the total changing.

11. 32:06
    Calling it an estimated mill rate, and the 3% to 5% note

    A committee member asked that the figure be labelled an estimated mill rate, saying there had been a lot of confusion during the discussion; the board agreed it is literally an estimate and a worst case, and said it should be presented as the highest change expected. Josh checked that the mill rate figure is a worst case but that the 13.5% increase in the property tax levy is real, which was confirmed. Asked what the note about keeping the annual increase between 3% and 5% meant, the chair said that was the strategy behind drawing the fund balance down gradually, and that it cannot survive the school and county assessments rising as they have, the town's share of the school having gone up about $2.5 million in six years.

12. 32:06
    Road painting and striping

    A committee member asked why line 40-7258 rises when the town is not paving. Calvin (?) said there was no paint anywhere in town when he arrived 11 years ago and he has added roads every year, that about 21 miles are painted now and he intends to reach 24 or 25, and that the price comes through a cooperative bid run by GPCOG which he expects to be higher than last year. He confirmed the town is paving this year and would not paint a road it was about to repave.

13. 37:29
    Department head and staff wages

    Asked about the reasons for increasing department head wages, the chair said a human resources consultant was hired to assess the town's competitiveness against other towns, and that a regional wage study commissioned by Harpswell shows Durham consistently below the bottom 25% for some positions and below the median in every position. Calvin (?) said two public works positions have turned over six times, that a person hired two or three weeks earlier had already left, and that a fork truck job at Walmart pays about $26 an hour. Asked for the underlying data, the board said the wage table had been presented to it in August, that the raw data from Harpswell and an MMA wage table are available and would be copied to the committee, and that the adjustments still leave every position from town manager down below the regional average. The chair elsewhere put the wage table presentation at five months ago rather than August.

14. 42:33
    Why the HR consultant stays in the budget

    Alan (?) asked why the consultant remains in the budget now that the HR policies she worked on have been adopted. The board said she functions as the town's human resources department for personnel, labour law and complaint matters, at about half the hourly rate of the attorney, and that an in-house HR employee with full family benefits and retirement would cost far more. The consultant sits inside the business services line with accounting, and the figures given conflict: the line was described both as rising from $30,000 to $45,000 and, later in the meeting, as falling from $65,000 for 18 months to $45,000 for 12. The board said the work is billed hourly and unspent money is not used, but could not say how many hours had been assumed. Donna (?) said her own payroll company includes HR; the board said the town's payroll company does not offer it and that public sector employment law differs from private.

15. 48:05
    Animal control

    Jill (?) asked whether the animal control line covers 18 months. The board said the last budget, covering 18 months, was $29,000 and the new one is $22,000 for 12 months, at a quoted price covering the Lisbon animal control officer and the Coastal Humane Society combined.

16. 48:05
    Full-time positions and the code enforcement change

    Asked whether the full-time wage increase reflects more staff, the board said the only added full-time equivalent is the fire station position moving from part-time to full-time, with the rest being wage table adjustments and years of service. Thirty-two hours counts as full-time and is where benefits begin. The former full-time code enforcement officer post has become a full-time administrative assistant at a much lower hourly rate, split half to public works and half to code enforcement, with Calvin now serving as both public works director and code enforcement officer; the board said this lets both roles work at the top of their licence rather than on paperwork.

17. 53:36
    Computer hardware and Select Board tablets

    Asked why hardware is not a capital expense, the board said computers are an operating cost replaced on a schedule rather than bought new every year. This year's line includes tablets for the Select Board so most documents move to an electronic format, which the board said cuts printing and simplifies Freedom of Access requests because a town device can be handed over rather than a personal one.

18. 53:36
    Request for a list of employee wages

    Neil (?) asked for a list of what town employees are currently paid, saying he wanted to understand what they are making. The chair said the information is public but that no one had asked for it before and he wanted to confirm the proper way to release it, since a pay stub carries other personal information and state wage portals scrub personal detail. Members discussed whether names, titles or only figures were wanted, and settled on the wage table with each position's current step circled and the step it moves to on July 1 written alongside; Neil (?) said that would work. Members recalled that the town used to list employees and their wages in print.

19. 58:39
    Grant matching and recreation reserves

    Asked why there is nothing for the grant matching reserve, the board said nothing is budgeted to transfer to it from the general fund this year, the only transfers out being to the capital improvement reserves. The projected ending balance is $25,776 against a projected expenditure of $4,224, which the chair said gives six or seven years before it runs out, and said reserves with adequate balances are the first place the board looks when expenses outside its control are driving the budget. Nothing is being added to the recreation fund for the same reason.

20. 1:03:41
    A proposed paving reserve

    Joe Gaston (?), who had raised the same idea in public comment, suggested creating a capital reserve fund for roads, seeding it from unassigned fund balance, so the money would be there to spend if asphalt prices fell. The town's accountant said he recommends establishing a reserve and set out two ways to do it: an annual warrant article authorising any unexpended paving appropriation to go into the reserve rather than lapse at the end of the fiscal year, or establishing the reserve and budgeting a transfer into it. The board said either route needs a warrant article and that it cannot simply move money into a reserve itself. The paving figure was given both as $125,000 and as $150,000.

21. 1:08:45
    Last year of fund balance use, and regional dues

    Asked whether this is the last year the town expects to use a significant amount of fund balance, the board said it is, and that the drawdown was always meant to hold increases towards 3% to 5% rather than spend the balance in one or two years and then face a large jump. On dues the figures conflict: a member had understood joining cost more than $20,000, the answer given was about $15,000 for GPCOG and MMA combined, a figure of 15,770 was also spoken, and a total of about $32,000 was mentioned which the board said included grant-funded paid services for open space work rather than membership.

22. 1:15:36
    Homestead exemption and the revaluation

    Jill (?) asked how Durham gets back to using the full homestead exemption. The board said only the revaluation will do it: once the state considers the town fully valued, residents can take the whole $25,000 exemption, and the share the town can currently take has fallen to about 52% because the work was left too long. When Durham started the process in 2022 or 2023 the two or three firms that do the work were all four years out, a problem the chair said is reported at GPCOG meetings across the region. The timing of the revaluation was given variously in the meeting as starting now and in place for 2027, as next April, and as two years away.

23. 1:20:51
    How often to revalue, and paying for it

    A board member asked whether an ordinance could require revaluation on a set schedule, since boards change. The chair said a funded revaluation reserve would be a better prompt, spreading the cost over several years regardless of who holds office; members then established that the town already has a revaluation reserve. Figures given were a couple of hundred thousand dollars for the work and about $25,000 a year to save for it. The state accepts up to ten years, but participants argued for four to seven, citing Lewiston (?), where residential values rose about 180% against 130% for commercial and the shift to residents is being delayed a year, and Portland, where long delays produced very large jumps in individual valuations.

24. 1:26:04
    Legal line and the old Brunswick dump

    Milt Simon began a line-by-line set of questions with legal, line 20-7220, noting $11,976 spent against the budget and $15,000 proposed for next year with a note about the old town dump. Jerry (?) said the actual covers 12 months of an 18-month budget, and that he is taking legal advice on the old Brunswick dump: it is 70-something acres, has a for sale sign on it, and the town has never foreclosed because past administrations did not want the liability, but the attorney has warned that if it is sold and built on and contaminated water becomes an issue, the town could be on the hook because it allowed the use years ago. Asked whether contingency would be the better place for that cost, the board said the $15,000 is already tight and contingency would have to cover any move to hourly litigation rates.

25. 1:31:23
    Auditor, business services and insurance lines

    The auditor line rises from about $17,000 to about $22,500 because the town's auditor is no longer with them and the work is out to bid; Mark (?) suggested the figure, and two proposals have since come in, one just over $22,000 and one at $30,000 received that day. Business services falls to $45,000 for 2027 because the current figure covers 18 months and is expected to come close to $65,000. On general insurance, the 12-month actual was $46,834 against $50,000 budgeted for 2027, a 4.2% increase once put on the same footing, with $70,677 paid through March 31 because premiums run January to December and a new calendar year had begun.

26. 1:36:54
    Election costs and miscellaneous expenditures

    Election costs of roughly $2,000 to $2,900 are expected to cover the June election and town meeting, including election security memory sticks quoted at $400 for four. On miscellaneous expenditures, $5,800 was budgeted for 18 months and $4,535 spent, most of it a MainePERS error from a couple of years earlier and unemployment, which now has its own line; $5,000 is proposed for 2027. Milt Simon (?) questioned budgeting that much for a category that is by definition unpredictable, and the board said it covers unbudgeted supplies and small items and can be drawn on if another line such as legal comes in high.

27. 1:42:23
    The fire department's miscellaneous line, read out

    Asked what the fire department spends about $4,000 of miscellaneous money on, the fire chief read the items out: service awards and pins, a $55 iPad case after crews kept dropping the ambulance iPad, pizza on testing day, an E-ZPass account set up for a trip to Augusta, $26 of postage for an out-of-state employee records request, $738 to the NFPA for fire prevention day, $164 of helmets and toys for children, and $154 of hardware. The chair said these are the sort of costs nobody thinks about year to year.

28. 1:47:34
    Planning, code and public safety lines, and winter sand

    Half the administrative assistant's salary is coded under part-time wages in planning and code, with the other half in public works wages; George and the planner are part-time. Dues and subscriptions were budgeted at $1,750 with $886 spent and $1,700 proposed, and cover professional software subscriptions whose timing varies. The new ecode maintenance line covers annual updating of the codified land use ordinance. Overtime has been separated out of part-time wages at the fire chief's request so it can be tracked, and cell phone stipends now sit in the telephone and internet line, the code stipend having been dropped because Calvin already has a phone. Winter sand showed nothing spent against $7,000; Calvin (?) said he bought about $5,000 worth and has yet to pay the bill, and that he deliberately ran the stockpile down so the salt shed can be reorganised to hold more salt and less sand.

29. 1:52:34
    Erosion control, cleaning wages and debt service

    The report showed $539 through December against $5,200 for erosion control; Calvin (?) said it is about 85% spent now, that the material is mulch hay, grass seed, lime, fertiliser and staples, and that more bills are in the current warrant because more water runs in spring than in winter. The board added that it does not want a use-it-or-lose-it model that cuts a department's budget because it underspent. The wages under line 41-7020 are cleaning staff covering the town office and public works. Debt service actuals differ from the budget because a payment falls due in May. Milt Simon closed by saying he has not yet set a record for questions in 27 years on the committee.

30. 1:58:11
    Where the tax increase is coming from

    Mark (?) presented the shares of the tax assessment since 2021. The county's share has risen from about 7.5% to 9.3%, education from about 71% to 78%, and the municipal share has fallen from about 20% to 11 or 12%. Year over year for 2027 the county assessment is up 12.6% and education up 10.1%, while the municipal portion is down 7.7% on a 12-month to 12-month comparison; the municipal amount assessed was $1.6 million in 2021 and is $1.1 to $1.2 million for 2027. He put part of the fall down to the town budgeting revenues realistically instead of repeating last year's actuals, and part to budgeted use of fund balance, and said the select board has the most effect only on the municipal share.

31. 2:03:26
    How tightly the budget is drawn

    Jerry (?) said the 2024 audit showed the town finished with only half a percent of budget left, that one significant problem would put it over, and that the pattern is not sustainable. Mark (?) said he projects about $17.1 million of total expenditure against about $17.5 million budgeted, within $400,000, and that budgeting this tightly on both spending and revenue leaves no room for error and argues for scaling back the planned use of fund balance. The chair said squeezing the municipal portion to offset the school and county is trying to buy a hundred dollar bill with a penny.

32. 2:08:32
    Regional advocacy on municipal costs

    The chair described a GPCOG committee, with a representative from every town, drafting proposals for Augusta. One is a county-level local option sales tax so towns with lodging and tourism revenue share with towns like Durham that cannot generate it; an early projection put a 1% county sales tax at about $380,000 a year coming to Durham. Others include raising the state's share of school funding towards 55% from about 44% and increasing the homestead exemption. Mark (?) said residents should press legislators to fund corrections and education from income tax rather than property tax, because property value is no indication of ability to pay.

33. 2:13:38
    Timetable, and the town manager's report

    The Budget Committee confirmed it will give its recommendations by May 7, with warrant language set on May 12. The chair noted that only Neil had left during the question period. Jerry (?) reported that a public works candidate accepted and then withdrew, that a second signed the agreement that day, and that an administrative assistant has been appointed and starts Monday, May 4. He said the May 12 meeting will carry the land use ordinance vote with George present as well as the town meeting warrant, and that a further meeting may be needed to finalise the warrant.

34. 2:13:38
    Agriculture committee moved off May 12

    The agriculture committee wants to close out its request to waive fees for greenhouses. The chair had offered it the May 12 meeting so the current board, which heard the presentation, could finish it before the election, but agreed the agenda is too full; the 26th would be a skeleton crew, so the item was left until after town meeting on the ground that a fee waiver does not need to be on the warrant.

35. 2:19:06
    Annual report and the bandstand

    Annual report documents are due Thursday and the chair asked members to send anything they want covered in the Select Board report. He reported a conversation with Tia of the Durham Historical Society, who suggested the bandstand be refurbished as a monument for observation rather than public use, which would avoid the ADA compliance and structural problems of restoring it for use. About $30,000 is budgeted and anything beyond that would have to go back to the town; Deb was asked to carry the discussion forward with Tia after town meeting.

36. 2:19:06
    Department reports and the brush fire

    A department report submitted for the annual report named a newly hired employee and will need correcting because that person has since left. Members noted a brush fire in town that week which put the new brush UTV into service and made the television news, and corrected a claim circulating on social media that the fire department had issued the burn permit; permits come from the Maine Forest Service, though the town keeps the right to shut burning down. Members also noted the DOT painting the intersection outside and a new light now on the pole there.

37. 2:24:16
    Order of town meeting, and the election

    John (?) raised the idea, discussed before but never settled, of holding town meeting as an informational session ahead of the election with the votes cast at the polls, and said the board is running out of time to put it on the warrant. The board was told it already has the authority to make the change without a town vote, and considered a straw poll. Jerry cautioned that the June ballot will already carry a primary, an RSU 5 ballot, a Region 10 ballot and the municipal ballot, that graduation falls the same day, and that a referendum vote by secret ballot tends to go to the lower of two numbers; he relayed the town attorney's remark that Durham is the only town she knows of where the Budget Committee and Select Board come to town meeting with different numbers. On the wage scale, the new rates start July 1 and are already baked into the budget. Early voting begins Monday May 11 because May 9 is a Saturday, and a three-year Budget Committee seat has no candidate, the sitting member saying he is finished.

38. 2:29:30
    Former landfill, trash system and close

    John (?) urged the board to deal with the former landfill sooner rather than later, relaying the attorney's advice that statutes give towns that hold landfills immunity from a good deal of liability; the chair said that should probably be taken up in executive session because it involves land, and no executive session was held on the night. The chair reported that two weeks and three collections into the new trash system his inbox of complaints has quieted, that most problems have been solved or patched, and that he will put out another request for issues. The board approved the consent agenda and adjourned, listing the Budget Committee on May 4, 5 and 7, the Planning Board on May 6, a solid waste meeting on May 11 and the Select Board on May 12.

What was decided

• 0:12
  Approve the previous meeting's minutes, moved by Josh and seconded by Rebeccapassed
• 6:08
  Amend the fee schedule as George (?) recommended: a per-acre site plan review fee for solar energy systems, new fees for subdivision sketch plans, amended plans and private way maintenance agreements, and removal of the fee for an applicant arriving unprepared. Moved by Josh, seconded by Debpassed
• 32:06
  Agreed, without a vote, to present the projected mill rate as an estimated or worst-case figure rather than a flat projectionpassed
• 53:36
  Agreed, without a vote, to give the Budget Committee the wage table with each position's current step marked and the step it moves to on July 1, without employee names, once the manager confirms the proper way to release itpassed
• 2:13:38
  Budget Committee to deliver its budget recommendations by May 7, with the board setting warrant language on May 12passed
• 2:13:38
  Take the agriculture committee's request to waive greenhouse fees off the May 12 agenda and hear it after town meetingtabled
• 2:24:16
  Ask the town manager to draft warrant language establishing a paving reserve for the town meeting warrantpassed
• 2:29:30
  Hold a straw poll on changing the order of town meeting until the November election rather than adding it to the June ballottabled
• 2:29:30
  Take the former landfill up in executive session because it involves land; the wording was tentative and no session was scheduled on the nightoutcome unclear
• 2:29:30
  Approve the consent agendapassed
• 2:29:30
  Adjournpassed

An outcome reads "unclear" where the recording does not state it plainly. The recogniser drops short words, and "the motion does not carry" is one missing word from its opposite.

Worth knowing

• 32:06
  About half an hour went on what the 13.5% figure means. The mill rate shown in the budget assumes no growth in valuation and is a worst case; the meeting agreed it should be labelled an estimate. The 13.5% increase in the property tax levy itself is not an estimate. The agenda and the sheet given to the Budget Committee also differed, 13.4% against 13.5%, and a $15,000 crack sealing amount amended in from the floor at the previous meeting was missing from the committee's copy.
• 1:15:36
  Because Durham has gone so long without a revaluation, residents can claim only about 52% of the $25,000 homestead exemption. Revaluation firms were four years out when the town started the process. Members discussed funding a reserve so the town can revalue every four to seven years instead of waiting until the state's ten-year limit.
• 1:58:11
  The municipal share of the Durham tax bill has fallen from about 20% in 2021 to 11 or 12%, while education has risen from about 71% to 78% and the county from about 7.5% to 9.3%. For 2027 the county assessment is up 12.6% and education up 10.1%, while the municipal portion is down 7.7% on a 12-month comparison.
• 1:26:04
  The town manager is taking legal advice on the old Brunswick dump, 70-something acres now carrying a for sale sign. The town has never foreclosed on it, but the attorney has warned that if it is sold and built on and contaminated water becomes an issue, the town could be liable because it allowed the use years ago.

Motion language found in the transcript

Located by pattern matching, with no model involved: "I move that", "I'll second", "all those in favour". This is an independent check on the summary above: 3 passages of motion language, against 11 decisions summarised.

Elsewhere

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