MINOT – Residents anxious to receive their 2003 property tax bills will have to wait another few days.

Selectmen had hoped to set the tax rate Monday night and have the bills in the mail by the end of the week. These hopes were thwarted by delays in getting results from the townwide property revaluation finalized and into the computer.

A month ago, letters went out to property owners with their new assessments as prepared by O’Donnell and Associates.

During the past month, O’Donnell representatives have met with property owners who want to challenge their new assessments. This process took longer that anticipated.

Selectman Dean Campbell noted that people who met with O’Donnell representatives generally came away comfortable with the values determined. Campbell pointed out that many people came in agreement once they realized that the valuation was really pretty close to what they would want to sell their property for.

As the new valuations tended to be much higher than the old – area property values have increased significantly in recent years, leaving the town’s assessed values lagging far behind – townspeople have been more than a little curious to know the effect on their tax bills.

Selectmen agreed that they will hold a special meeting to set the tax rate as soon as information is available rather than wait for the next regularly scheduled meeting.

Road Manager Arlan Saunders told selectmen that Brian Keezer from the state highway department traffic division told him that the department has decided to lower the speed limit on Shaw Hill Road to 35 miles per hour from Woodman Hill Road to beyond Rodmar Road and reduce it to 40 miles per hour from that point to Center Minot Hill Road. The state’s recommendations must first be reviewed by state police before the town can post the new speed limits.

The reduction is a result of Shaw Hill Road residents complaining about excessive speed in their neighborhood.

Saunders added that state highway engineers have begun to survey East Oxford Road for possible speed limit reduction.

Town crews will be stockpiling winter sand next week and, according to Saunders, plow frames will be put on trucks perhaps as soon as the end of this week.

Saunders reported that he had been asked by school officials whether the logging slash pile at the Minot Consolidated School could be trucked to a fill area near the town garage.

“If I bury what’s there, I’d be half way down to the ball field,” said Saunders. He said with the amount of work remaining to be done at the school property, pulling perhaps 4 or 5 acres of tree stumps, the school really ought to establish a location to dispose of its waste on site.

Selectman will be interviewing candidates for the town’s administrative assistant position later this week. The selectmen intend to be able to offer the position to someone in time for a Feb. 1 start date.

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