By Jodi Hausen,Staff Writer

FARMINGTON – A 10-member committee will begin the work of hashing out the town’s 2006-07 budget Wednesday.

Though selectmen took a good look at the budget at a special meeting last Thursday, they may make some adjustments at their meeting tonight.

Items most likely to be scrutinized include:

• A request by Town Assessor Mark Caldwell for $10,000 to be put in the town’s revaluation reserve. Caldwell has asked for $4,000 for each of the last several years but feels a revaluation should already have been done and therefore needs to be accomplished soon. “I’ve been dragging my feet on it,” he told selectmen last week. Town Manager Richard Davis recommended asking the town for $6,650.

• A fire department request for $100,000 for the capital reserves. The department is anticipating the purchase of new trucks in 2007 and 2012. Fire Chief Terry Bell suggested spending $800,000 on a combination ladder and pumper truck in 2007 rather than an estimated $1.3 million to replace a pumper in 2007 and the ladder in 2012. The department is also hoping to construct a training complex for about $200,000 within the next few years.

• A $34,300 property improvement account request by Director of Parks and Recreation Steve Shible. This represents an increase of $25,550 over last year’s request and almost $21,000 more than in 2003 and 2004. Shible thinks lead paint found in the bandstand in Meeting House Park should be abated this year. The estimated cost for the job is nearly $23,000. Davis recommended less than half Shible’s request at $11,500.

• Shible also asked for nearly double of that budgeted for last year’s improvement fund for the Community Center – $16,755. The building needs masonry repair, new windows and floor tile in one of the stairwells. The town manager did not dispute this request.

All department heads requested more funding for heating fuel, electricity, gasoline and health insurance but those numbers were anticipated and not challenged by Davis or selectmen last week.