RANDOLPH — When Randolph voters gather Thursday to vote on the proposed budget, they will consider a spending plan aimed at keeping property tax flat for another year.
Town officials have proposed to spend about $2.25 million on town projects and expenses this year, an amount virtually unchanged from a year ago.
“It’s a good budget,” Mark Roberts, chairman of the Randolph Board of Selectmen, said Friday. “We do our best to keep taxes steady.”
A year ago, elected officials presented a $2.24 million spending plan. While many expenditures remained flat, some — including salaries and insurance — have increased.
To pay for this spending, selectmen proposed to raise and appropriate $1.75 million from property tax payers, and draw nearly $500,000 from the town’s general fund. They also seek to apply $100,000 from state revenue sharing.
Selectmen are also asking town residents for authority to borrow $1.2 million to build a new fire station on Kinderhook Street.
Town officials have been considering their options for several years because the Fire Department’s current station on Water Street is cramped and aging.
If voters agree, Roberts said he would expect the project to get underway next spring.
Right now, plans are about 90% complete.
“Ideally, we’d have the finalized plans and can put it out to bid,” Roberts said. “We might get better prices if we can say we don’t anticipate starting in the springtime next year.”
The price tag includes the cost of building the station and all earthwork on the site at 104 Kinderhook St., near where it meets Windsor Street.
Officials in many communities across the state delayed their annual budget votes because public gatherings were restricted under Maine’s state of emergency due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
Randolph’s meeting, however, falls at the end of July, and is taking place at the traditional time.
In past years, the Town Meeting had been held at the gymnasium of the former Teresa C. Hamlin Elementary School, which the Gardiner-area school district closed and sold in 2019.
This year, the meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at Farrin’s Country Auctions at 36 Water St.
Roberts said Randolph Town Meetings generally draw no more than 40 people, so the space is expected to accommodate those who attend.
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