RUMFORD — Deviating from their agenda at Thursday night's board meeting, selectmen convened two emergency sessions, the first of which seemed to come as a surprise to some in the audience.

The first session was to authorize Town Manager Carlo Puiia to apply for a tax anticipation note, to borrow money with which to run the town should it become necessary until tax revenue starts coming in.

The first tax payment installments from residents who don't pay all at once, aren't due until Nov. 16.

"We feel we won't have to do that this year even though taxes will be collected late, but we have made arrangements," Puiia said. "Looking to the future, it's wise for the town to have that tool, if you will, in place, because we will be coming back again on April 1."

"If we have any problems with the collection of taxes then, we ought to be prepared," he said.

In the recent past, Rumford hasn't had to borrow money in anticipation of taxes, Puiia said.

But then, no one anticipated a 22.5 percent tax hike this year, due to a multimillion dollar drop in valuation of the town's two biggest taxpayers, the NewPage Corp. paper mill and Brookfield Power, a hydroelectric company.

Puiia said he and selectmen believe the town is OK at the moment. However, they're worried about possible delays in collecting taxes.

"You can borrow money based on the fact that you can anticipate collecting taxes," Puiia said.

Selectman Robert Cameron then motioned to authorize Puiia to pursue securing a tax anticipation note as needed between now and June 2010.

"This isn't the first time we've ever done this," Cameron said. "We've never done one since we've had the two-payment system. Previous to that, we did them every year."

The board then voted 5-0, approving the motion.

Selectmen's Chairman Brad Adley then declared the need to enter a second emergency session to appoint one ballot clerk for the Nov. 3 election.

The board entered the session and appointed Barbara Doherty as the ballot clerk, before re-entering their regular session.

In other business that came up during the Request of Citizens Present section of the agenda, resident Candice Casey suggested a cost-savings measure by following the state's example of shutdown days to conserve money.

Casey asked the board to close the municipal office on each of the remaining six shutdown days, because Rumford District Court would be closed due to the state shutdown.

At a previous meeting, Selectman Greg Buccina suggested closing the municipal building to cut costs during the current budget crisis, but Puiia said that couldn't be done because the court had to remain open five days a week.

Not so, said Casey.

Adley then said the board and Puiia need to research how much money could be saved by remaining open for four out of five business days.

"Can we get by on only four days?" Buccina asked.

Cameron suggested also sending nonessential personnel home on the day that the municipal building is closed and only keeping police and fire employees on duty.

Selectman Mark Belanger said the board needs to act soon if it's going to follow through with its decision to cut 10 percent from the current budget.

"We're already a quarter of the way into the budget and we've spent 25 percent," Belanger said.

Puiia then said the board doesn't have to vote to close the building, because the town charter dictates who runs municipal government operations.

Without voting, the board then left the research work to Puiia and moved on with scheduled agenda items.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com