City Council Mary Mortier is the ward representative for my area. She is also a real estate agent. She is a long history 1% player, way before becoming City Council in 2012? She has taken the 5th since getting on Council to save our homes and lives. Instead of helping the people she is robbing and destroying. Promoting and spending more, more, more with capital corruption, charging the cost to the people, employees and basic services that property taxes are to cover first- resident infrastructure and schools. Both ignored and corrupted. Yet City Wall keeps spending, more, more, more...float another bond for City greed and City buildings. Comprehensive Plan to squeeze out the 99% after bleeding us dry. They are bullies that kick the public and sooner or later, the public will kick back. For 5 years I have been exposing their corruption and spending to the public at over 50 meetings. How do so many become so corrupt and act so correct? Miss Piggy is perfect. Boycott.
Prior City Council Roger Lee also speaks to spread the cost to the same. This man was the propeller of the capital spending for his entire time on the Council (8 years). Pushing us further into debt with spending the surplus for wants. Pushing Belfast into grant after grant with matching City funds and corruption. Outsourcing consultations and engineers protect the Wall. Roger is a shameful man. Another pretender of integrity. He took the 5th also, until he spoke up to basically call me a liar. My you tube video's record the Roger shaming. The month before he stepped down, he saved his ego by stating maybe they should look at saving my street... knowing the forced drowning will continue, his hand has been holding our heads under water, we're almost dead. DNR but make it look like he tried.
7/7/2015 City Council meeting link http://belfastme.swagit.com/play/07072015-1353/#4
'You've got one more chance'
Councilor urges city's meekest to speak now on budget, up nearly 12 percent
By Ethan Andrews | Jul 14, 2015Belfast — "If you've ever been frightened off because you attended a school public hearing about the budget, this one's easier. Take your first step here," Councilor Mary Mortier said July 7.
Her comments came on the heels of a discussion of the city's budget, which would require collecting 11.59 percent more than last year from property taxes.
When Mortier spoke, the property tax rate stood to go up by nearly two points, or $2 per $1,000 of property value. That figure included a school budget that has since been pared back. Additionally, there may be cuts to the city budget before the final vote, but Mortier said residents need to weigh in.
"You can write an email, you can write a letter and you can ask it to be read into the public record, or you can bring a friend to hold your hand. But you need to have the council hear how you feel," she said. "... It's not enough for me to hear how you feel. You need to let these other four gentlemen in the room hear you, because they're not hearing you. And you've got one more chance."
The draft budget brought former city councilor Roger Lee back to Council Chambers. Lee, as several councilors later noted, was hawkish on finances during his tenure. On July 7 he raised some questions but said he was at a loss for how to prevent the increase except to take from surplus, which he said the council should do.
"It's perfectly fine to pay for it out of all the taxes we've collected in the past 12 years," he said.
The 11.6-percent increase would come from a combination of higher expenses and less revenue.
The $223,276 increase in expenses would come largely from a hike in the cost of employee benefits and additional public works costs.
On the revenue side of the budget equation, the city anticipates losing $303,217. That figure includes $124,500 that the city took from surplus last year, but would not set aside for the coming year. The other major drop, in projected ambulance receipts, was largely a clerical correction, according to City Manager Joe Slocum, who said estimates previously were based on bills sent out rather than actual receipts. The city overestimated receipts by roughly $150,000 last year, he said.
Lee and others cautioned that property tax increases, however small, add up. Over a period of years, they could widen the gap between residents whose income doesn't keep pace and those who can afford to absorb the increases.
"It's easy for us to say another couple hundred here, another couple hundred there," said Jim O'Connor of Belfast. "But … it's cumulative."
Liz Bowen of Belfast echoed the call to think of residents on fixed incomes.
"Every time I look at the deed transfers and see a transfer from a homeowner to a bank, I wonder what the story is," she said.
Councilor Eric Sanders expressed concern about dipping into surplus. The city's reserves went from roughly $4 million to $2.2 million in a period of several years as the city tried to offset increases from the school district.
"You have to stop that at some time," he said.
The council charged City Manager Joe Slocum with trying to find cuts totaling 5 percent.
Citizens can testify at the final public hearing for the budget Thursday, July 16, at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall. The council set a tentative date of July 21 to vote on the budget.
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