Kennebunkport Board of Selectmen unanimously voted to approve the proposed town budget.

During the March 25 meeting, only a few changes were made to the $6.34 million budget, $1,000 less than last proposed.

Selectmen voted to cut aid to the Shoreline Trolley, a proposed $6,000 expense in the town budget.

Connie Garber, transportation director of York County Community Action originally requested $8,000 for the Shoreline Explorer, the public transportation network from York to downtown Kennebunk.

The Intown trolley and Kennebunk Shuttle that run through Kennebunk and Kennebunkport has reported declining ridership.

“I wish it would have worked but it just don’t think it works for our town,” said Selectman Sheila Matthews-Bull.

York County Community Action received $300 increase in the proposed budget, Caring Unlimited received a $252 increase and Southern Maine Agency on Aging received a $200 increase, bringing the social service agency totals to the requested amounts.

Another $4,000 from the Shoreline Trolley will be used for municipal auditing. A new auditing agency, Runyon, Kersteen and Ouellete, will go over the town’s financial statements this year.

The budget board meets next week to review the proposed budget. Voting on the budget will be held June 12.

’Port passes on paving

Some  state-owned roads in Kennebunkport are in poor condition, according to Town Manager Larry Mead, but not poor enough for the town to act on the state’s behalf.

During the March 25 meeting, selectmen agreed to wait until next year to pave Spring Street, School Street, Maine Street and North Street, all state owned roads.

During their last meeting, the board considered paving these roads because they were considered a low priority on the Department of Transportation paving schedule.

Rep. Alan Casavant (D-Biddeford), who attended the previous meeting, contacted representatives from the Maine DOT who later spoke with Mead. The manager said he was told there was a program available to the town that would be open beginning June 2011.

The program shares paving costs with MDOT paying 30 percent of the cost of the project and the roads would not be widened, a concern among selectmen.

During the last meeting Mead discussed the possibility of MDOT widening the roads to its usual standard, something he thought the town would not like.

Mead said the town would know if it received the funds by June of next year, and if not it would look at paving those roads some other way and will fill some of the bigger pot holes to make it through the next season. He said it did not seem likely the state would pay the full cost of paving the roads during the next three years

Main Street trees come down

Little changes are beginning to take place in downtown Kennebunk.

A revitalization project is visible after some trees lining Main Street were taken down last week.

While some residents have complained, Town Manager Barry Tibbetts said this is only the first step in the project and all the trees will be replaced.

Along with new trees, the downtown will see new light fixtures and improvements to sidewalks in the downtown area.

Town Engineer Chris Osterrieder was at the March 23 selectmen’s meeting to discuss new 12-foot tall light fixtures and LED lights.

The town sent out a bid for four-sided lantern style with frosted glass coverings and aluminum poles that can handle LED light bulbs that operate at both 90 and 125 watts. Duel-level bulbs will allow the town to turn the lights down late at night, if needed.

Osterrieder also said the LED lights will last 70,000 hours and come with a seven-year warranty.

Osterrieder said the town will buy the fixtures and lights from Sternberg Electric, the only vendor of three bidders that met all requirements.

Selectmen voted to give the bid to Sternberg Electric for $147,295, coming in approximately $150,000 under budget on this piece of the revitalization project. The fixtures will be installed by local utility company Kennebunk Light and Power.

The rest of the project will begin in the first few weeks of April and is scheduled to end in October.

Osterrieder said he plans to have crews come in phases, getting one section done before moving on to another. He said he hoped to get 100 feet of roads and sidewalks revamped each week, adding that  some on-street parking will be lost.

Construction crews will attempt to be out of the way during big summer events like Memorial Day weekend and Independence Day.

New rules for trash program

Kennebunk is looking to make some changes in how the town collects garbage.

Town Manger Barry Tibbetts introduced new rules on how much garbage residents can use with the bags and tags system.

The biggest change will be residents can no longer use tags on trash cans. The orange tags, previously used for 40 pounds in a trash can, may have to be used for large trash bags, on which yellow tags are now used.

Pay-As-You-Throw garbage program has been losing money gradually over the past seven years, accumulating a $97,509 deficit that will be paid off this year as part of the town’s budget, pending a public vote.

Tibbetts said he had been looking for ways to curtail the deficit, while keeping the program.

A fundamental flaw in the program has been weight versus volume, the town bases the cost of the bags and tags on how much weight will fit in a bag, but residents who stuff the bags full of heavy items – such as cat litter – are challenging cost assumptions.

A public hearing will be held April 13 and the changes to the ordinance may appear on the June 8 ballot.

–Compiled by Suzanne Hodgson