FARMINGTON – Voters passed all articles except one, which sought $100,000 for work on Walton’s Mill Dam, at Monday’s annual town meeting, Town Manager Richard Davis said Tuesday.
The article requesting money for dam repairs was discussed for nearly an hour, and was finally amended and passed. The town will spend $10,000 on repairs to the dam this year, and also will start studying the possibility of using the dam to produce hydroelectric power sometime in the future, Davis said.
After what Davis described as a lengthy discussion, voters enacted an emergency-management ordinance in compliance with state and federal laws requiring towns to have a plan “to ensure the complete and efficient utilization of the town’s facilities and resources to combat natural or man-made disasters.” Davis and Chairman of the Board of Selectmen Mary Wright said some audience members were worried that the new ordinance gives too much power to the town manager.
Voters passed all the budget articles, bringing the town budget up to about $3.9 million, which is an increase of nearly 7 percent over last year. About 10 residents voiced concerns during the meeting about the increase, saying that during a hard year, when most people are not receiving raises, paying higher taxes seems unfair. Taxes should not go up much, if at all, Davis said Tuesday, because the budget increase is offset by an increase in the town’s nonproperty tax revenues, which include excise taxes and state and federal funds.
Comments are no longer available on this story