EUSTIS – If all goes as usual, voters should zip, zip, zip through the town meeting warrant, said Eustis’ assessor.

Typically, the annual meeting lasts about an hour and a half, said Sandra Scribner, assessor for the town, which has a population of just under 700.

“Usually, it’s just zip, zip, zip,” she explained. “But, if they start arguing about something, it can just go on forever.”

On the whole, it seems like there isn’t much to argue about on Eustis’ warrant of straightforward articles.

Last year, voters raised $465,697, plus an extra $43,784 to provide Stratton Lumber with tax increment financing a few months later, for a total of $509,481. This year, voters will be asked to raise $504,831 plus whatever the TIF works out to be, Scribner said.

Voters will decide whether to raise $131,600 for administration, including $5,500 for a code enforcement officer; $25,000 for an assessor, $200 for the town’s forest fire warden; $74,500 for town officers and charges, and $15,000 for municipal buildings.

That’s almost a $10,000 increase from the amount raised last year of $121,400 for administration.

Selectmen are recommending $150,900 for protection, up from the $139,500 approved last year. That includes a proposed $25,000 for the fire department, $48,000 for ambulance and $13,000 for insurance.

The proposed highway budget is up from $116,900 to a proposed $130,100 for 2004. The increase is mostly in the summer roads’ account.

Another $54,453 is being requested for health and sanitation in 2004. The majority of that cost is the $45,000 recommended for the Transfer Station.

The proposed amount for recreation is $19,850, up from the $16,725 approved last year, mostly because of an increase in the cost of the Community Youth program and the amount to maintain Blanchard Park.

Scribner says usually 40 to 50 people are present at the start of the meeting, but by the end, the numbers have trickled down to between 25 and 30.

“You want people to come because you want them to be informed,” she pointed out, adding it’s too bad more people don’t participate.

Meanwhile, the town is asking voters whether to offset the 2004 tax commitment by authorizing selectmen to use $139,251 from excise tax, $22,788 from the tree growth tax, $663 from the veterans’ fund and $356 from the snowmobile refund.

Town report/voting

The town has dedicated the 2003 town report to Jerome Hopson of Stratton, a longtime moderator of the annual town meeting and also the town’s librarian.

Scribner said Hopson has always done an excellent job and brought professionalism to his moderating position.

The town, she said, made a decision “to start honoring older citizens who have done so much for the town while they are still alive instead of waiting until they passed.”

Voting for town officers will take place the night before the meeting at the Town Hall, from 4 to 8 p.m.

Incumbent John Caldwell is running unopposed for a three-year selectmen post. The same goes for incumbent Duluth Wing who is alone in the race for a three-year Planning Board term and incumbent Sarah Woods, the lone contestant for a three-year position on the SAD 58 Board.

A one-year selectmen position is open, but no candidate has been listed on the ballot, which features a write-in space in that race.

sdepoy@sunjournal.com

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