Twenty-five of 48 articles warranted some discussion at Vinalhaven’s June 24 Town Meeting, which lasted for nearly four hours. At the meeting residents approved, in separate articles, money to help pay for an island-wide property reassessment, and the construction of a police holding cell. Voters also defeated an article to enact a moratorium on rock quarrying, and voted to wait before paving four miles of town roads.
Voters approved the appropriation of $95,000 for the first year of a two-year comprehensive property reassessment. “So many things are out of kilter,” said Selectman Eric Davis, noting that buildings built some time ago have never been taxed.
In response to a statement that the re-assessment would raise a clamor, former Selectman Dean Thompson said “You’re absolutely right: there’s going to be a lot of hollering. But the issue is fairness.”
Another resident worried that the increased property taxes resulting from the re-assessment would ultimately “drive everyone with a fixed income out of town.”
The rock quarrying moratorium was proposed in the wake of a new quarrying operation on the North Haven Road, and would have stopped the town from issuing permits for any new operations until a quarrying ordinance was developed and adopted. A motion to hold the final vote by secret ballot was narrowly carried, after several recounts. The moratorium was defeated 40-64. The Planning Commission will continue to work on the drafting of a quarrying ordinance, however.
While many details about the construction, maintenance and administration of a police holding cell have not been determined, islanders voted to appropriate $5,000 as seed money towards the exploration of the project. Vinalhaven currently has no holding cell – those held in police custody must be taken to the mainland or released if a mainland trip is not possible. The $5,000 was included in the total sum of $64,682 appropriated for contractual police protection by the Knox County Sheriff’s Department.
An article authorizing the town to borrow $617,840 for the paving of four miles of town roads was defeated, after strong sentiment was expressed to postpone the work until the state Department of Transportation undertook work on state roads. By piggy-backing onto the state’s project, Thompson said the town could cut its cost “in half,” by not having to transport much of the necessary equipment and materials to the island. The state plans to wait until the work for the new sewer system – slated to begin this fall – is finished.
In other articles, $25,000 was appropriated towards repairs and maintenance of Brown’s Head Light, and a public works budget which included $28,000 for the repair of the downtown parking lot was approved. Nov. 1 and May 1 were set as dates for the payment of taxes.