YORK COUNTY, Maine — Voters across southern Maine will weigh in on municipal budgets and other proposals on Tuesday, June 11. And one community will determine whether to buy a church where Taylor Swift once shot a music video.
Below is a summary of what voters in each community will encounter when they have their annual town meetings next week.
Purchase of Christ Church on the Kennebunk ballot
The big decision for voters on Tuesday will be whether to authorize the town to purchase two properties, 6 and 7 Dane Street, for a price not to surpass $800,000, so public parking could be secured and expanded. Ultimately, the town is seeking $850,000 to help cover repairs and maintenance on the properties once they are purchased.
The former Christ Church, where parishioners worshipped for more than a century, sits on one of the properties and would be included with the purchase. In 2010, the church claimed a spot in pop culture history when world-famous singer Taylor Swift filmed a wedding scene there for the music video of her hit song, “Mine.”
The church building itself has been a fixture on Dane Street since 1828. A few years ago, the congregation vacated the premises for another site, eventually putting its two Dane Street properties up for sale this past winter. The town developed a purchase-and-sale agreement with the church earlier this year.
The cost of the land is included in the town’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2025, which voters also will address on Tuesday.
Currently, the spaces at 6 Dane Street help meet basic parking needs for those who either work at or visit the town hall on Summer Street, according to Town Manager Heather Balser. Purchasing the property would remove the need for the town to negotiate parking accommodations with anyone who would buy the land instead.
The additional parking spaces at 7 Dane Street would help the town meet the parking needs it is anticipating in the future, according to Balser.
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Also on Tuesday, voters will decide the fate of the town’s finances for fiscal year 2025, with a proposed operating budget of $17.3 million, up $1.9 million, or a little more than 12%, from 2024, according to town documents.
Voters also will decide whether to enact a short-term rental ordinance that would set in place procedures for registering and inspecting such units. The ordinance seeks to define a short-term rental as any dwelling or accessory dwelling that is rented for less than 15 consecutive days.
The polls on Tuesday will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the Kennebunk Town Hall Auditorium at 1 Summer Street.
Kennebunkport to vote on $23.3M budget on Wednesday
While voters in Kennebunkport will elect officials alongside other communities on Tuesday, they will vote on the town’s proposed budget and other measures during a continued annual town meeting at the Kennebunkport Consolidated School at 25 School Street on Wednesday, June 12, at 6 p.m.
Voters will vote on a proposed town budget for fiscal year 2025 that carries a net tax commitment of $23.2 million, an increase of 5.84% over current finances, according to Town Manager Laurie Smith.
The town’s portion of the overall tax rate, which includes contributions to RSU 21 and the county, is down 4 cents over last year, according to Smith. The overall rate, with the school district and with county projections figured in, is up 32 cents, or 5.15%, Smith added.
Elsewhere, voters will decide whether to approve proposed amendments to the town’s Land Use Ordinance to bring it into compliance with LD2003, the new state housing law, and to the town’s floodplain management ordinance to continue participation in the National Flood Insurance Program.
Other towns on Tuesday also are asking voters to adjust their floodplain management ordinances accordingly.
On Tuesday, the polls will be open for voting for candidates, land use, and floodplain matters at the Village Fire Station at 32 North Street, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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Wells seeks zoning change for new community center
On Tuesday, voters will decide on a proposed operating budget of $28 million for fiscal year 2025, $15 million of which need to be raised through taxation, according to town documents. That makes for a net operational increase of a pinch more than 7%.
If all is approved, the property tax rate in Wells would be $6.09 per $1,000 of valuation, with the municipal portion of that amount set at $2.26. The rest would go toward the county, the Wells-Ogunquit Community School District, and overlay.
Also on Tuesday, voters will be asked to amend the town’s official zoning map to change portions of Maps 133 and 134, Lots 24 and 25, from Residential-Commercial to General Business.
This property, located near Wells Town Hall and Wells Elementary School, is where a local group of officials and volunteers is seeking to build a new community center. If approved by voters, the rezoning of the parcel would align it with neighboring properties.
The polls on Tuesday will be open in the Wells Junior High School gymnasium at 1470 Post Road, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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Funds to repair Marginal Way on the Ogunquit ballot
In addition to zoning proposals and standard housekeeping measures in the proposed town budget, voters will be asked to OK a few big-ticket items.
Chief among them is a proposed $1 million to repair Marginal Way, which took a structural beating during not one, but two, heavy storms back in January. The town needed to close the beloved, historic path for a short while following those storms, which resulted in flooding, erosion and other damages, but was able to reopen it after making basic fixes in the weeks that followed.
Voters also will be asked to approve up to $180,000 for a new trash-collection truck, $143,000 for new heat and air-conditioning pumps down at the beach, and close to $99,000 for a new police cruiser.
The polls will be open at the Dunaway Center at 23 School Street on Tuesday, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Voters to tackle school budgets, too
As well this Tuesday, voters in Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Wells, Ogunquit and Sanford will also decide whether to validate their school districts’ proposed budgets for the coming fiscal year.
In RSU 21, which comprises Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Arundel, voters are being asked to approve a $59.3 million budget to fund public education, from pre-kindergarten through grade 12, for fiscal year 2025.
In the Wells-Ogunquit Community School District, voters will be asked to approve a fiscal year 2025 budget of a little more than $30.5 million. That’s an increase of more than $809,000, but with $400,000 to be drawn from the district’s fund balance, the net increase is actually a few hundred dollars more than $409,000.
In Sanford, voters will have one task on June 11: to decide whether to validate the school department’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal year. In Sanford, the City Council approves the budget and voters elect their officials in November.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Town Meeting 2024: Top issues in Kennebunks, Sanford, Wells, Ogunquit
