David Gilbert was the winner in voting in Palmyra on Friday in a four-man race for one seat on the Board of Selectmen.
Palmyra Town Clerk Valerie Sprague said Gilbert garnered 78 votes for a three-year term on the five-member board. Candidate Herbert Bates received 21 votes; Aaron Chadbourne, 3 votes; and Tyler Norris, 21 votes.
Sprague said the Town Meeting on Saturday was “very short, very sweet.”
She said all the articles passed as written from the floor of the meeting Saturday, with voters approving a new municipal budget for the coming year of about $1,119,474, which is $86,487 more than last year’s spending package. She said increases in spending are due to $45,000 for the town’s share of a new culvert on Libby Hill Road, $27,000 from capital improvement funds for repairs to the roof at the Community Center, and miscellaneous office purchases or leases, such as a computer and a new copier.
The tax rate going into Town Meeting this year is $18 for every $1,000 in property valuation. The final tax rate will not be known until the school budget is completed and county tax is assessed.
Voters on Saturday approved $130,000 for town charges, including payroll, contracted services, utilities and supplies, and another $45,000 to maintain the Community Center.
Voters also agreed to spend $87,392 as the third of five annual payments for road paving, $40,000 for gravel work, $220,000 for the Public Works Department and $182,287 as the second of five payments from the state Local Road Assistance account on another paving project.
Residents also approved spending $21,000 for the final payment on three trucks purchased for the Public Works Department; $57,000 for fire protection; and $110,000 for solid waste disposal.
They also agreed to take $110,000 from surplus to lower the 2018 tax commitment. About 45 people attended the Town Meeting Saturday, Sprague said.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
Twitter:@Doug_Harlow
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