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132nd MAINE LEGISLATURE
FIRST SPECIAL SESSION-2025
Legislative Document No. 1767
S.P. 685 In Senate, April 23, 2025
An Act to Amend the Waldo County Budget Adoption Process and
Allow Residents Who Are Not Municipal Officers to Serve on the
Waldo County Budget Committee
Reference to the Committee on State and Local Government suggested and ordered printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator CURRY of Waldo.
Page 1 - 132LR1610(01)
1Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
2Sec. 1. 30-A MRSA §853, sub-§1, ¶A, as enacted by PL 1987, c. 737, Pt. A, §2
3 and Pt. C, §106 and amended by PL 1989, c. 6; c. 9, §2; and c. 104, Pt. C, §§8 and 10, is
4 further amended to read:
5 A. The county commissioners shall notify all municipal officers in the county to caucus
6 by county commissioner districts at a specified date, time and place for the purpose of
7 nominating at least one municipal officer from each district as a candidate for the
8 county budget committee; except that in 1987, at least 3 municipal officers shall must
9 be nominated from each district. If no municipal officer in a county commissioner
10 district is willing to be nominated as a candidate for the county budget committee, any
11 resident of the county commissioner district who is of voting age may be nominated in
12 place of the municipal officer as long as the other 2 county budget committee members
13 in the county commissioner district are municipal officers. A county commissioner
14 shall serve as nonvoting moderator for his that county commissioner's district's caucus.
15 Nominations shall must be received from the floor. The nominee receiving the most
16 votes shall must be approved. Any other nominees who receive a majority vote of
17 those present shall must also be approved. The names of those duly approved shall
18 must be recorded and forwarded to the county commissioners to be placed on a written
19 ballot.
20Sec. 2. 30-A MRSA §853, sub-§3, as enacted by PL 1987, c. 737, Pt. A, §2 and
21 Pt. C, §106 and amended by PL 1989, c. 6; c. 9, §2; and c. 104, Pt. C, §§8 and 10, is further
22 amended to read:
233. Term of office. The term of office shall be is 3 years , provided that a budget
24 committee member remains a municipal officer in the municipal officer's municipality,
25 except that of those elected in 1987, one from each district shall be elected for a term of 3
26 years; one from each district shall be elected for a term of 2 years; and one from each
27 district shall be elected for a term of one year.
28Sec. 3. 30-A MRSA §853, sub-§4, as amended by PL 2017, c. 78, §1, is further
29 amended to read:
304. Vacancies. A vacancy occurring on the budget committee must be filled by the
31 committee for the balance of the unexpired term. The person appointed to fill the vacant
32 office must be a municipal officer resident of voting age from the same municipality as the
33 person vacating the office. If the municipality of the person vacating the office declines to
34 send a new member, the committee may solicit another municipality in the same district as
35 the municipality of the vacating member that does not have a member sitting on the
36 committee to send a municipal officer municipal resident of voting age to fill the vacancy.
37Sec. 4. 30-A MRSA §855, sub-§4, as enacted by PL 1987, c. 737, Pt. A, §2 and
38 Pt. C, §106 and amended by PL 1989, c. 6; c. 9, §2; and c. 104, Pt. C, §§8 and 10, is
39 repealed.
40Sec. 5. 30-A MRSA §855, sub-§4-A is enacted to read:
414-A. Adoption of budget. After the public hearing is completed, the budget
42 committee shall adopt a final budget and transmit that budget to the county commissioners.
43 The county commissioners may not increase, decrease, alter or revise the budget as adopted
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44 by the budget committee except by unanimous vote of the county commissioners. If the
45 adopted budget is changed by the county commissioners, the budget committee may reject
46 that change by a 2/3 vote of its membership. Those actions are final and are not subject to
47 further action by either the county commissioners or the budget committee. The budget as
48 adopted must be sent to the county commissioners, and the county tax authorized must be
49 apportioned and collected in accordance with section 706.
7SUMMARY
8 This bill amends the law governing the membership of the Waldo County Budget
9 Committee. The bill provides that if no municipal officer in a county commissioner district
10 is willing to be nominated as a candidate for the county budget committee, any resident of
11 the county commissioner district who is of voting age can be nominated in place of the
12 municipal officer as long as the other 2 county budget committee members in the county
13 commissioner district are municipal officers. The bill also removes the requirement that a
14 budget committee member serving in the capacity of a municipal officer must maintain the
15 member's status as a municipal officer during the member's term of office. The bill also
16 removes the requirement that a person appointed to fill a vacancy be a municipal officer
17 and permits any municipal resident of voting age who resides in the same municipality as
18 the vacating member to fill the vacancy.
19 The bill also replaces the process for the adoption of the county budget by requiring
20 that, after a public hearing is completed, the budget committee adopt a final budget and
21 transmit that budget to the county commissioners. The county commissioners may not
22 increase, decrease, alter or revise the budget as adopted by the budget committee except by
23 unanimous vote of the county commissioners. The bill requires that if the adopted budget
24 is changed by the county commissioners, the budget committee may reject that change by
25 a 2/3 vote of its membership. The bill requires that the budget as adopted must be sent to
26 the county commissioners, and the county tax authorized must be apportioned and collected
27 in accordance with current law.
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