The Lisbon Reporter

WELCOME TO THE LISBON REPORTER. In an effort to keep our community informed of what is going on at local and Federal levels of government, we decided to create this on-line newspaper. It is our hope that this on-line newspaper will help you stay informed so that you can get involved and take action for the benefit of our ENTIRE community. Thank you for visiting and please check back frequently for information about what is happening in LISBON/LISBON FALLS, MAINE USA

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Lisbon's Town Council Antics Continue Read about it here

Reminder to watch tonight's cable broadcast of Tues's Public Budget Presentation.

No Increase In Taxes say Lisbon's Officials of budgets presented Oh Really?

All Lisbon Residents:

I had the pleasure and honor to witness a real live miracle last night at the Public Hearing on the 2011-2012 Budget. I could not believe it was possible but both the School and Town budgets are NOT going to raise our taxes this year according to the Town Manager.

First, I want to compliment Mr. Green for an excellent presentation outlining the School budget process and detailing what they had done to reach their goal of keeping the budget so there would be no increase in our taxes.

However, on the town side I can not say the same. The handout provided at the Public Hearing outlined the budget much better but still needs a lot of work like explaining when you transfer accounts from one line item to the other. It appears the town did some very “creative accounting”.

The Town Manager gave a presentation of the town budget but never mentioned whether or not the resident of Lisbon’s taxes would be increasing this year. I would think this might be a critical point in his presentation, however, he never mention the impact the budget would have on taxes. Included in the proposed budget is still a wage increase of 1.75% to ALL town employees; losses of jobs for four or five individuals, and an 8% increase to two individuals for taking on additional duties. Also, the Town Manager and his secretary’s professional development are still in the budget proposal.

After the Town Manager’s presentation I asked the Town Manager: “What was the bottom line on whether or not the residents of Lisbon will experience a tax increase this year.” The Town Manager’s response was “There will be NO tax increase this year.”

I want you to know the town must have done a lot of “creative accounting” to have so much increase in spending and not raise our taxes. Makes you wonder why it was not done before.

In all honesty, I have to tell you, all my dealing with the Town Manager he has never told me the truth. Remember last year, when the Town Manager stated there was nothing the town could do because we had a “valid commitment” and come to find out there was no “valid commitment”. This cost the town an additional $10,000 dollars to correct. The Town Manager stated the investigation into the $32,500 in the Economic Development Department was over and come to find out the State Attorney’s General office had to send a special letter to clarify the situation. There have been many more situations where the input received from the Town Manager was incorrect. If you attend the Town Council meetings, you will witness items come before the Town Council for a vote and some of the Councilors were never notified or provided any information prior to the meeting.

I can almost guarantee you your taxes will go up at least $.35 per thousand this year, if not more. The residents of Lisbon need to start paying more attention to what is going on in this town. I advise all residents to review the public hearing on Thursday, May 5, 2011 on Channel 7 at 7:00PM. I am sure you will find it as entertaining as I did.

Larry A. Fillmore

Concerned Citizen

Posted by Lisbon Concerned Citizens at 7:16 PM

Last Night's Town Council Meeting

All Residents of Lisbon

At the Public Hearing last night, a member of the council tried to slip an additional item on the agenda. Thank goodness Roger Cote was there to put a stop to it because it concerns all the residents of Lisbon.

The issue is the Town Council Working Rules. Councilor Pomelow has stated in a prior meeting, she wants to do away with the Audience Participation at council meetings. Councilor Pomelow believes this is not allowing the council to be as effective as it can be. I believe it is because some of the council members do not want the residents to know what is going in this town.

In the Town of Lisbon, it is the “Good Old Boys” controlling the town. Let’s take for example the Dragon Pit off Route 196. This area sits on the Town’s water supply and has been labeled a “Residential Area” for many years. Now someone is trying to change the Lisbon Comprehensive Plan to change this area to “Commercial”. This Dragon Pit has not been utilized for a while and yet now, without a change in status, is being developed without any permits. Do you think someone has a plan they are not telling the residents about? Do you think there are any underhand dealings going on with this property? Why would any one spend money developing an area unless they had a guarantee it was going to be rezoned?

There are members of the Town Council who do not want the residents to know what is going on in this town. Another example is the town owned property a 4 Campus Avenue (old school house) valued at $265,050.00 was sold by the town to the Brunswick Housing Authority (BHA) for $1.00. I am sure the town is getting its monies worth on this deal. Also, the name on the deed is Housing Associates of Lisbon, LP. I had no idea who this was so I called BHA to find out if it was true they purchased the property and sure enough it had and deeded it to Housing Associates of Lisbon, LP so Bath Savings could purchase Tax Credits on the property once it was renovated. Very strange dealings! I wonder what other deals are going on we do not know about?

I believe the problem is not with the audience participation but with the town not providing ALL available information being discussed at these meetings to the councilors and the public well in advance of the meeting so everyone can study up on the issue and talk about it intelligently without having to bring the public and some councilors up to date on what is going on. We have elected these councilors to represent us in town matters but they also have an obligation to keep us informed so we can render an opinion prior to them voting on any issue. This is not being done.

The pure fact the Town Council is trying to eliminate any interaction between residents and the council is outrageous. The residents of the town are the “people” and we need to have a say in what is going on at these council meetings.