RICHMOND

Richmond voters Tuesday whittled down a $2.1 million municipal spending plan for 2015-16 by about $10,000 during the nearly three-hour annual Town Meeting.

The proposed municipal spending plan was a 7.6 percent reduction; it was further reduced through three different articles Tuesday to $2,134,299 — a total decrease of about 8 percent. The tax rate is still expected to drop about $0.30 to $19 per $1,000 of assessed value. While the town has no estimate for new valuation, new value is anticipated and the higher that number, the lower the tax rate will be.

Only 88 registered voters attended the meeting and much of the debate was an echo from previous town meetings, centering around the summer recreation budget, reserve accounts and the cost of the police department for the size of the town. Richmond already pays for services from the Sagadahoc County Sheriff ’s Department.

The first amendments were made to the administrative account in Article 2, by two residents. One requires an article-by-article review of expenditures on the warrant next year, as well as a presentation of town employees and what they are paid.

Alice Knapp said she is glad the budget isn’t going up.

“My only gripe with information presented,” she said, is that “the single biggest bud- get item,” is payable and she argued every year residents should be told who the employees the town are and what they are paid. It is a point she makes every year.

“I think that’s incredibly important,” she said.

Selectmen chair Peter Warner said officials will try to have that information next year.

Knapp also doesn’t like that the town office is closed Fridays and said the focus should be on serving the public.

Mike Grizkewitsch Sr. said the town’s selectmen and former town manager chose to change the articles from what was approved at town meeting last year, and he accused them of lying to him about it. He asked why he should trust that the budget articles adopted Tuesday won’t be changed.

“I don’t know what areas people thought we misled them in. You have my word, and I hope that you believe me, that I would never try to deceive anybody in the town,” Warner said. “We do the best we can and hopefully you understand that when it comes to a budget that’s down from last year, we’ve done our best.”

As a result of Grizkewitsch’s concern, an amendment was made to have a report next year on the money appropriated and money spent from individual accounts next fiscal year.

A motion by Grizkewitsch failed during discussion the library account article, which would have created a user fee of $5 per person and $20 per family for use of the Isaac F. Umberhine Public Library.

“Don’t be a welfare recipient,” he argued. “If you want to use it, pay for it.”

No amendments were proposed, but during discussion of the police department operations account Steve Musica argued that the cost of police is actually more expensive mostly due to benefits, for which the town appropriated $241,649. The cost is closer to $345,000, he said, also noting the town pays $110,000 for the Sagadahoc

County Sheriff ’s Department.

“Approaching a half a million dollars is a lot for law enforcement for a small town,” Musica said, adding his comment was based not on police performance, but only cost.

The town body approved the Budget Committee’s recommendation for the summer recreation activities, which is to appropriate $16,088 in the summer recreation serve account funds. Selectman Clarence Cummins said there is an estimated $5,000 in fees coming in and $11,000 in the reserve account. The program costs $21,000, he said, so the selectmen recommended appropriating an additional $5,447 to ensure the program will continue as it is.

Cummins said if voters approve the Budget Committee proposal, “you are going to cut the program, and it will be different than it has in the past.”

A parent of a child who has attended the summer program said that, given the benefits of the program, she can’t understand why the town would take away from its children. Resident Paul Adams, called out of order at one point for addressing voters rather than moderator Bob Lenna, argued it’s not taking anything from the kids. He argued the summer program counselors are paid $10 an hour when firefighters in town are paid only $9.50 an hour, and that the child-to-councilor ratio for field trips is too high.

Budget Committee member O’Neil LaPlante said the committee asked the town manager to try to come in witha1or2percent decrease in taxes, and “what we asked is that we have to prioritize,” and there needs to be cuts. They also asked the police and fire departments and senior program to be very strict on how they spend money.

The meeting was recorded and will be available for viewing on the town’s online Town Hall Streams page at http://townhallstreams.com /locations/richmond-me.

dmoore@timesrecord.com