YORK COUNTY, Maine — The deadline for municipal nomination papers in towns across the state has changed from 45 days to 60 days, forcing a shift in the timeline for the budget process in some York County towns.
York Town Clerk Mary-Anne Szeniawski said an additional 15 days has pushed the town's budget review process two weeks earlier, forcing all town departments to have their proposed budgets ready early.
“It has wreaked a little havoc with our timeline for our town manager to get his budget together and for our budget committees to meet. We are knee deep in the budget review process already here,” Szeniawski said.
The new law passed by the Legislature became effective Nov. 1, 2017. The Municipal Association and the Maine Town and City clerks Association supported the measure, which gives town clerks more time to finalize their ballots before sending them to be printed.
Kennebunk Town Clerk Merton Brown, president of the York County Town and City Clerks Association, said the change allows more time for the company that prints all of the state ballots to respond to the demand.
Brown said Maine has a contract with an out-of-state company to print all of the municipal ballots. He said the 45-day timeline set a “very uncomfortable” window for town clerks to get the ballots back in time for absentee voting which starts 30 days prior to election day.
“Because they do this all over the country, they have no mercy, they want at least 28 days, so this is something we’ve been waiting for,” Brown said.
In Kennebunk and other York County towns that hold their municipal elections and vote on referendum questions in June, the change may not even be noticed.
“It’s not going to feel like a change here. We certainly aren’t putting a crimp on anyone,” Brown said. “This year we are putting out nomination papers Friday, March 2 and they are due back on the 13th of April.”
The deadline to get referendum questions on the ballot is March 27, with municipal elections slated for June 12.
It’s been a little different in York, where municipal elections are held in May. The town charter requires the elections be held between 30 and 45 days before the start of the new fiscal year on July 1.
“Everything is just that much earlier for us,” Szeniawski said. "Now we are trying to budget just six months into the fiscal year, so we just do the best we can to project."
While the earlier budget process will take some getting used to, Szeniawski said a positive is that she isn’t vying for the attention of the printing company with all of the other state municipalities.
York voters typically see a line-item ballot that’s eight to 10 pages long, making for a longer printing time before Szeniawski sees them back in her office. She said more than half of the town’s voters vote via absentee ballot, which will be available 30 days prior to the election.
This year’s municipal election in York is scheduled for May 19.