NEWRY – Selectmen Monday scheduled a special town meeting for Monday, Dec. 15, to ask voters to consider appropriating $13,000 from the town’s undesignated fund account to cover an overdraft in the town’s solid waste account.
According to Administrative Assistant Sylvia Gray, the extra funding is needed because at the annual town meeting last March it was not possible to present an absolute estimate of solid waste costs for 2003. Newry, which the town partners with at a transfer station on Route 2, runs on a calendar fiscal year from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, and Bethel operates on a fiscal year from July 1 to June 30.
Gray said funding for solid waste disposal proposed for the budget at town meeting each year can only be an estimate because Bethel’s town meeting and budget approval does not come until June.
She added that $115,000 was approved for solid waste disposal at the March town meeting, but since Bethel included several projects to upgrade its transfer station, the amount needed to cover Newry’s costs ran higher than expected.
“We need to hold a special town meeting to ask for $13,000 to cover an overdraft in our solid waste account,” said Gray. “We are faced with an increase from what we estimated last spring of 2.82 percent. We had expected our share at the transfer station to run 37 percent of the cost of operating the station for 2003, but we have learned that our share will be 39.82 percent.”
The town did have a slight cushion in its solid waste account of $2,000, but selectmen wanted more funds to cover the costs for the remainder of the year.
The special town meeting will convene at 7 p.m. in the conference room at the town office on Route 26 in Bear River.
The vote to schedule the meeting was unanimous.
In other business, selectmen agreed to consider presenting a proposed town ordinance that will involve comprehensive fire protection for the town and water services relating to maintenance of hydrants throughout the town. The idea was presented by Bruce Pierce, representing the Newry Fire Department, and was taken under advisement.
The board also agreed to consider a watershed proposal for the Bear River section of town, which runs along Route 26 toward Grafton Notch, submitted by resident Jeff Stern.
More information will be forthcoming on the ordinance and watershed proposal.
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