NEW VINEYARD — Saturday’s town meeting will offer voters an opportunity to elect new municipal officers and approve the budget for 2014.

The meeting is set to begin at 9:30 a.m. at Smith Memorial Hall. Board of Selectmen Chairwoman Fay Adams said nominations and elections would be held from the floor, starting with her position.

“My term is up, and I’ll be happy to serve again if elected,” she said.

Adams said she was not aware of competition, but if a new selectman takes her three-year seat, she said she would be happy to assist in the transition.

“I’m pushing 80, but my health is good, and I like what I’m doing,” she said. “It’s up to the people in town to make the decision.”

Also up for grabs are a pair of two-year Planning Board positions and road commissioner. Earl Luce Jr. has been the town’s road commissioner for more than two decades, and he said he would serve again if elected.

Advertisement

“I’ve been doing this job for 21 years,” he said. “I guess people have been happy with the job I’ve done.”

In budget matters, selectmen recommend raising $7,800 for operation of the town’s transfer station. A change this year will be the amount approved for the Sandy River Recycling Association. Rather than a full year’s fee, taxpayers will be asked to approve $1,059.80 until June 30, when the facility ceases operation.

The request of $21,500 for Fire Department operations will include the footnote that any unspent money will go to the Fire Department Reserve Account. The truck replacement reserve account request is $10,000, and voters will be asked to approve the annual amount of $20,313 as payment on the outstanding fire truck loan.

A request of $46,000 will be used to pay for maintenance and repair of roads during the summer months. Last summer, an expensive Barker Road repaving project was completed and Luce said he didn’t plan for any major renovation expenses in 2014.

Selectmen have recommended voters appropriate the $31,284 they received from the Maine Department of Transportation toward payment of that 2014 reconstruction loan. Because the town contracts its snowplowing, sanding and salting of roads, selectmen recommend setting aside $171,000 for the coming year. Voters will be asked to approve insurance costs of $11,000 and town charges of $68,000.

NorthStar Ambulance Service bills the town based on its valuation, the number of living units, annual population and distance from its Farmington base of operations. For 2014, that formula generated a subsidy request of $14,379 to pay for emergency medical services.

Selectmen suggest taking $50,000 from surplus to reduce the tax commitment.

Comments are no longer available on this story

filed under: