Selectmen hope to have numbers ready for town meeting, scheduled for June 8 and 9.
By Cora C. Briggs
Special to the Sun Journal

LIVERMORE FALLS – Selectmen have agreed to spend their off-Mondays, when no regular meetings are scheduled, working on the 2004-05 budget.

They will begin March 8 with Chief Ernest Steward Jr. presenting proposals for police and dispatch services.

With this schedule, the board should have its figures ready for the Budget Committee’s review in April so town meeting articles could be drafted in May.

Town meeting will be June 8 and 9.

Initial figures presented by Town Manager Alan Gove showed the possible loss of $27,000 rent from the court, while all departments propose increases.

Among the requests are a new cruiser, raises for Fire Department officers, a truck for the highway department and more money for the transfer station, insurance, hydrants, ambulance and street lights.

“This year it is much harder to reduce, we trimmed everything last year,” Gove said, referring to $89,000 cut last year.

If the court closes, there would be about a $10,000 expense to move the town offices upstairs, Gove estimated.

There would be added expenses if the Police Department moved into the town office space.

In his five year projection of capital improvements, Gove estimated $156,000 on Moose Hill Road, $55,000 for Strickland Loop and $40,000 on Record Road.

The manager is also concerned about the cost of solid waste with tipping fees budgeted at more than $115,000.

Among suggestions are that the haulers be charged the tipping fee, whatever Jay bills the town, or that a pay-per-bag system be used.

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