Three candidates are on the annual Town Meeting ballot this year for two open seats on the five-member Palmyra Board of Selectmen.
Incumbent selectwomen Jo-Ann Brown and Vondell Dunphy are seeking reelection for a three-year term of office. Palmyra resident Herbert Bates, who mounted an unsuccessful bid in elections last year, is running again this year.
Polls will be open for voting Friday at the Palmyra Community Center on Madawaska Road from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. The annual business meeting will take place 10 a.m. Saturday at the center.
Also on the ballot is incumbent director Jennifer Watson for a three-year term on the Regional School Unit 19 board.
Palmyra Town Treasurer Priscilla Jones said Tuesday that the projected budget for the coming year, if all spending articles are passed as written Saturday, is $1,018,523, which is about $71,000 less than what was raised last year, but with one unanswered question.
“We do have one unknown,” Jones said.
The unknown is how much money will be needed to replace a culvert on Libby Hill Road. Article 35 of the town warrant asks Palmyra voters to appropriate $168,000 for the job, but town officials are awaiting word on possible grants to pay for most of it, Jones said.
Jones said there are six or seven different options on replacing the culvert, depending on how much money can be secured in grant funding, which could amount to as much as $95,000, and what sort of culvert voters want to pay for.
“The least expensive project is $63,000, and it goes all the way up to $176,000, the different culvert options that we have,” Jones said Tuesday. “We’d like to do something that’s going to last. It depends on whether you go with a large culvert or pre-cast bridges. Some of them would last longer than the least expensive ones.”
Jones said Libby Hill Road is well traveled and affects the Newport Water District supply line.
The tax rate going into Town Meeting is $18.75 for every $1,000 in property valuation.
Big ticket items up for a vote Saturday will include $45,000 to maintain the Community Center and $130,000 for town charges, including all compensations, contracted services, supplies and advertising.
Palmyra residents will be asked to spend $220,000 for various Public Works roads accounts, including $20,000 for summer roads, $75,000 for winter roads and $95,000 for equipment and the town garage.
Also on the roads agenda, there is a request for $87,392 for the fourth payment on the paving bond, plus raising $57,392 and using $30,000 from state funding for roads. There is also a request for $40,000 for gravel roadwork and $182,287 for the third payment of funds borrowed in another paving project.
Palmyra residents also will be asked to spend $57,000 for fire protection, $110,000 for solid waste disposal and $8,000 for recycling.
Voters will be asked if they want to roll over the balance of the Veterans’ Memorial account to this fiscal year and to authorize the town to accept donations to pay for paving stones. The stones will be placed near the Veterans’ Memorial to honor people chosen by the purchaser.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
dharlow@centralmaine.com
Twitter:@Doug_Harlow
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