A dam repair bill is among the big-ticket budget items to be decided at town meeting.
GREENWOOD – Voters face a warrant of 47 articles here when they assemble for their annual town meeting Saturday.
The meeting will be at 10 a.m. at the Town Hall on Route 26.
Voters will have to decide on several large items that are prompting a proposed 32 percent increase in the municipal budget over the past year as well as whether or not to approve an ordinance for the recall of elected officials.
The budget, if approved in its entirety, would rise $272,000 above the $830,052 of last year.
The estimated school maintenance tax is also up $35,000 to $610,756 and county tax is up $3,532 to $57,331.
The largest amount the voters will be asked to approve is $125,000 for repairs to the Alder River dam. Town Manager Carol Whitman said the town would pay for it with a 10-year bond.
Voters will also be asked to approve $59,763 for a plow truck to replace one that is 11 years old. That amount will be bonded over five years.
There are also increases of $25,000 in highway maintenance and wages, and $24,000 for solid waste.
Whitman said about $6,000 of the highway fund increase is for wages. She said solid waste is up because increased expenses from the hauler overdrew the account by about $13,000.
Whitman said $25,000 of $75,000 needed for a revaluation in three years is planned to be put into a reserve account.
People will also have to decide on a near doubling of the fees for permits issued by the Planning Board.
Whitman said the Planning Board felt that the fees should go because the town has never had enough to pay the stipends at the end of the year.
“So the Planning Board always overdraws, except in 2003 when about 40 permits were issued for new houses,” Whitman said.
Fueled by request from the public, selectmen have added an ordinance for the recall of elected officials, which guides the removal of a selectman.
Selectman Fred D. Henderson is up for re-election as are the three school board directors.
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