NEWRY — Selectmen hastily scheduled a special board meeting for Thursday, June 18, to draft a warrant to correct a March town meeting error.
Near the end of Tuesday night’s board meeting, Administrator Loretta Powers said no one caught the mistake in Article 34 that was supposed to take $75,000 from unappropriated surplus and buy down the tax rate. Voters at town meeting approved it, thinking that’s what was intended.
But Powers said despite everyone who proofread the warrant, including selectmen who voted to place it before voters, the article states that the $75,000 would be placed in the capital improvement account.
As time neared to send out the tax bills, the mistake was discovered. “We can’t take the money from surplus to buy down taxes,” Powers said.
She said that if selectmen did not correct the matter, she guessed the new tax rate would be between $9.40 per $1,000 of valuation with a $40,000 overlay or $9.57 without the $75,000 from surplus.
She suggested they schedule a special board meeting to approve and post the warrant for a special town meeting before July when the tax bills are supposed to be sent.
“It’s the right thing to do,” Selectman Jim Largess said. “The town already voted to do it. We should get it right.”
A special board meeting was set for 5 p.m. June 18 and a special town meeting for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 30. Both meetings will be held at the Town Office.
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