Pullout:

Town of Farmington

Adopted municipal budget increases or decreases from prior year versus consumer price index:

Budget CPI

Year increase/decrease increase/decrease

2001 -2 percent 2.7 percent

2002 5.98 percent 1.4 percent

2003 -0.05 percent 2.2 percent

2004 4.74 percent 2.6 percent

2005 -0.45 percent 3.5 percent

2006 5.28 percent 3.2 percent

2007 5.47 percent 2.9 percent

2008 4.49 percent 4.1 percent

2009 -0.07 percent -0.70 percent

2010 -0.02 percent 2.1 percent

2011 1.13 percent 3.6 percent

Source: Town Manager Richard Davis

FARMINGTON — Selectmen voted Tuesday to approve the annual town meeting warrant to go before voters on Monday, March 19, Town Manager Richard Davis said Wednesday.

The warrant includes selectmen’s recommended 2012 municipal budget of $4.65 million and the Budget Committee’s recommendation of $4.7 million. The Board of Selectmen’s recommendation reflects an increase of $187,439 over last year’s budget. The Budget Committee’s proposal is up $239,939 over the 2011 amount.

The major difference between the two proposals is that selectmen recommend funding a garage for the new police station over a three-year period by putting away $25,000 each year in a reserve account, Davis said. The Budget Committee has included the entire $75,000 for the garage in its recommendation.

The biggest increase is in the Police Department budget, due mostly to the new police station and related renovations, Davis said.

Voters last year approved a plan to move the Police Department out of the Municipal Building and into a separate building on Franklin Avenue. The new building was donated by Franklin Memorial Hospital.

Over the past 11 years, Davis said, the town’s budget has increased by an average of 2.23 percent, which is less than the consumer price index average increase of 2.51 percent over the same period.

“When the cost of oil and gasoline goes up, it drives the consumer price index and also the town budget,” Davis said. “We have to buy those commodities, too.”

The town meeting warrant will include an article pertaining to a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant application for the proposed Brookside Housing Project. The town would act as a financial conduit for the project, if voters approve, Davis said. The grant application would provide funds for roads, sewer and water connections to Brookside Village, a proposed low- and moderate-income housing project off Fairbanks Road. Developers for the estimated $5.19 million project are William Marceau and Byron “Buzz” Davis.

Selectmen also approved warrant articles related to changing the Town of Farmington Zoning Ordinance to establish performance standards for a wind energy system, including adding definitions, and to add medical marijuana dispensaries to the definitions and table of uses.

The annual town meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, March 19, at the Community Center. The election will take place during the day from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Community Center.

Incumbent Selectman Ryan Morgan is running unopposed for a three-year term. RSU 9 Director Iris Silverstein is also unopposed for a three-year term on the school board.

dperry@sunjournal.com

JAY – Police arrested a Jay man at the Franklin County jail Wednesday on new charges after police searched his residence and found a pistol and a small marijuana grow operation, police Chief Larry White Sr. said.

James A. Woodbury, 52, was arrested on new charges of felony possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and misdemeanor illegal cultivation of marijuana and violation of conditional release, White said.

Police developed information that Woodbury was growing marijuana and was in possession of a firearm of which he is prohibited from having as he is a convicted felon, White said.

They obtained a warrant on Tuesday and searched his residence at 72 East Dixfield Road in Jay.

Woodbury had been arrested by Farmington police on Monday on a charge of violation of condition of release related to a separate matter and was still in the Farmington jail when the search took place.

Jay Detective Richard Caton IV assisted officer Michael Mejia with the Jay case and in the execution of the search warrant.

During the search of the residence the officers located a .25 caliber handgun that had been concealed behind the wall inside a closet in the bathroom, White said.

“This pistol had been concealed inside of a plastic bag that was tied to a shoelace and then hung from an exposed pipe and down behind the wall,” he said.

They also located a small grow that included 11 marijuana plants of which nine were flowering, he said.

Sgt. Troy Young assisted the officers at the scene of the search.

Woodbury, who remained in jail Wednesday afternoon, is scheduled to appear on April 20 in Franklin County Superior Court in Farmington on the new charges.

dperry@sunjournal.com