York County Budget Committee in need of members

​ALFRED - The York County Budget Committee has a number of vacancies to fill ahead of the budget season.
 
There are a total of 10 vacancies that need to be filled for the full committee to be in place.
 
Each of the 5 county commission districts has 2 municipal elected officials and a public member represented on the committee. The committee is also supposed to have a legislator from the York County delegation serve as a non-voting member. Members are selected at an annual caucus, where any elected municipal official in the county can vote on the selection.
 
“I would encourage the communities in my district to send elected officials to the caucus to vote on the vacancies and put forward individuals interested in serving on the committee as we have all three spots open,” says County Commissioner Justin Chenette, who represents Saco, Old Orchard Beach, Hollis, and Buxton. “This part of the public process is entirely separate from the commission and is a critical step towards ensuring that the county budget is finalized by the communities throughout York County in a transparent and accountable way.”
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The county budget process involves county commissioners hearing budget presentations from the county manager and various department heads in late March and early April. Commissioners can choose to take a vote on each section of the budget prior to an official overall budget vote to give an idea of support and potential issues along the way. After the commission passes the initial version of the budget, it then goes to the budget committee where there will be deliberations and a public hearing, likely in May. The budget committee is comprised of 3 members from each of the 5 commission districts, with two being elected municipal officials and one representing a member of the public. Members are selected at an annual caucus, typically held in April, where any elected municipal official in the county can vote on the selection. It can also have a non-voting member from the legislative delegation. The committee then adopts its version of the budget and submits it back to the commission, who can either adopt it as is or modify it. If commissioners decide to modify the budget, it then goes back to the budget committee for final passage either by overriding the commission decision or agreeing with the changes made as the final step in the process. The budget must be adopted prior to the start of the new fiscal year starting July 1st.
 
The caucus for the selection is being held Wednesday April 12th at 6:30PM. The location is the York County Courthouse at 45 Kennebunk Road in Alfred.
 
Questions about the process or the budget committee’s work can be directed to the budget committee chair Jo-Ann Putnam at [email protected]. 

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