STRONG – Voters will have no contested candidate races to decide this year. However, there is one six-year term on the Budget Committee for which no one has filed papers.
The election polls are scheduled to open from 1 to 7 p.m. today at the Forster Building to elect town and school officials.
Voters are expected to consider 67 articles when they meet for the annual town meeting at 9 a.m. on Saturday, March 5, at the Forster Building.
Town Clerk Eunice Shurtleff said incumbent Selectman Jeff Murphy is running to finish the remainder of former Selectman Perry Ellsworth’s term, which ends in 2007.
Tonia Boyd is running for a three-year selectman’s term.
Incumbent SAD 58 Director Gerald Pond is seeking re-election to the school board.
Lauris Abbott and Peter Seavey, both incumbents, are seeking re-election to fill two of three six-year terms on the Budget Committee, Shurtleff said.
Committee member Stephan Mitman is not seeking another term, she added.
It’s difficult to tell what the bottom line of the spending package would be for 2005, town Treasurer Sandra Howard said, because there are so many unknowns on what voters will decide to raise, appropriate or transfer.
The proposed spending plan is estimated to be at least $439,905.50, she said.
Voters approved about $433,000 in spending last year during the annual town meeting, Howard said.
Residents will be asked once again to raise money to do a revaluation of the property in the town.
Townspeople have raised $6,000 annually for several years, and so far the town has $42,000 in a reserve account for the revaluation, Howard said.
Selectmen are recommending that voters raise $6,000, but the Budget Committee would like to see that amount increased to $15,000, she said.
Residents will also be asked to increase the amount in the landfill account from $14,000 to $25,000.
Some of the increase is needed because the landfill closure account is depleted, and money is required for continued annual testing, Howard said.
The landfill was closed more than 10 years ago.
Howard said the town paid $7,400 for testing in 2003, and $7,844 in 2004.
Other than that, Howard said, she didn’t see any other major increases.
“We’re not looking to buy any big equipment this year,” she said.
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