By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

Auburn selectmen and the budget committee have each voiced support for a proposed warrant article that would funnel tax revenue away from the town’s conservation fund.

Resident Norm Bouley authored and collected signatures for the petitioned warrant article, which calls for “current use” tax revenue to go to the town’s general fund, “for the betterment of our town,” the article reads.

In 2002, Auburn voters supported placing “current use” tax revenue – generated most commonly from taxes paid by developers building on new land – solely in the conservation fund.

Bouley said despite some criticisms he’s received, the warrant article isn’t “anti-conservation.”

“This will not negatively impact the conservation commission,” said Bouley. “It will just put them on a level playing field with some of the other departments in town.”

Bouley suggested residents would be better served if the current use money were to be returned to the town’s general fund, to offset taxes and go to community-based projects.

“There are all kinds of avenues where this money could go, instead of just sitting in the bank for a special interest group,” said Bouley.

Town Administrator Bill Herman said the conservation fund currently has about $373,000. In 2005 alone, current use tax revenue reached about $250,000.

Shortly before the budget committee’s unanimous vote to support the change, which will be article 10 on this year’s ballot, Selectman Bruce Knox “stated he did not believe the people of town realized how much money is in the fund,” according to unofficial minutes.

While the warrant article has garnered support from some town officials, others said they fear the proposed change could ultimately prohibit the effectiveness of the conservation commission.

The commission’s chairman, Paul Raiche, said, “this (warrant article) would, in fact, inhibit our ability to protect some land from development.”

Last year, the conservation commission spent about $142,000 on a conservation easement for 58 acres off Pingree Hill Road.

Raiche cited a 2002 survey, circulated by the conservation commission and the open space committee, that asked Auburn residents their input on a variety of questions related to the town’s open spaces.

One question was, “Would you favor setting up a fund to purchase development rights to land with conservation value to the town of Auburn?”

One hundred people responded yes, while only 31 said no, and 20 said they had no opinion.

Of 258 people asked how they rate protecting land from development, 193, or 74.8 percent, said it was “critical,” while only two, or 0.8 percent, of the responders said it was not important.

One year after the survey, in 2003, Auburn voters supported a $2 million bond to be used for conservation purposes.

Former conservation commission member and former open space committee chairman Dee Cleary suggested Auburn residents have been overwhelmingly in favor of land conservation, which she said explains the establishment of the conservation fund in 2002.

Herman said the 2002 warrant article was originally written to place 50 percent of the current use tax revenue into the conservation fund, but voters changed that to 100 percent at Town Meeting.

“I don’t think a lot of people know that what they voted for four years ago could be taken away now,” said Cleary. “(The petitioners) want to give this money back to the people. It was never taken away. It’s what the people voted for.”

Raiche said the change in current use tax revenue distribution could ultimately have a negative effect on taxpayers if, for example, the commission requested a bond to buy development rights to attractive land.

“Then you’d be paying interest,” he said. “It could be more expensive in the end.”

The Auburn Town Meeting is set for Saturday, March 18, at 1 p.m., at Auburn Village School.