Holiday Pay, Audit Costs Prompt Special Town Meeting in Trenton.

Shaun Farrar

Jun 26, 2026

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by the Bar Harbor Music Festival.

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TRENTON—A special town meeting will be held in Trenton on Tuesday, July 7, at 7 p.m., at the municipal building due to the need to adjust a copy of budget items.

Following Select Board Chair Fred Ehrlenbach’s presentation of a plaque to Kevin Hallett recognizing his 39 years of service on the fire department the board got down to business.

Ehrlenbach told the board that the town needed to schedule a special town meeting to adjust one budget item and to ask for some additional funds for one, or possibly two, other budget items.

The possible increase hinged on how the Select Board decided to compensate town office employees for holidays that fall on either Friday or Saturday. The town office is closed on Fridays, so the two options were to let those employees take Thursday off for the holiday or to receive pay or comprehensive time for the holiday.

None of the Select Board members appeared to be in favor of the town office being closed on a Thursday, cutting the public’s ability to do business at the municipal building down to three days for those holiday weeks.

A motion was made to give the employees the option of taking comprehensive time or getting paid for the holiday and the motion passed. This will necessitate a budget increase of $2,920 to cover wages and benefits.

The second need for additional funds comes from an unanticipated increase of $3,000 for what the town pays for its annual auditing services.

The total amount of additional funding that voters will be asked to approve is $5,920.

The final change does not create any need for additional funds but rather just a movement of money from a school budget line item to a town budget line item. The town will pay the school’s Revision Energy bill of $25,000 rather than the school paying it.

However, that $25,000 was budgeted under the school’s budget and the voters have to approve moving the funds from that account to the town’s municipal budget.

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OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS IN TRENTON

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Pancake Breakfasts – Trenton Volunteer Fire Department

• July 18
• August 15

Breakfast is 6:00 – 10:00 a.m. at the Town Office/Fire Department

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Butterfly Garden

• July 18 – Butterfly festival 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.
• Sept. 19 – Invasive plants workshop 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
• Oct. 17 – Seed swap/Seed harvesting workshop 1:00 -3:00 p.m.

All events are at the Town Office, 59 Oak Point Rd, behind the fire pond

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Trenton Grange Events

Open Jam/Mic weekly on Mondays, throughout the summer. Doors open at 6:00 p.m., performances are 6:30 – 10 p.m. All are welcome, both acoustic and electronic music full band setup provided. Visit its Facebook page. This Saturday the Grange hosts the Somes Sound and Mood.

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