GILEAD – Residents at their Saturday night annual town meeting will be asked if they want to increase the length of terms for several municipal positions from one to three years.
They will also elect a selectman and a school board member, and act on a total of 40 warrant articles.
Administrative Assistant Beverley Corriveau said residents will be asked to increase the length of the terms for tax collector, town clerk and highway commissioner so they won’t have to be elected every year.
“One year doesn’t give anyone a chance to get used to the job,” she said.
At last year’s annual town meeting, voters turned down a question to change the three positions from elected to appointed. They also turned down a request to move the annual town meeting to Monday from Saturday night.
Up for election are the positions of town clerk and treasurer, held by Lin Chapman, tax collector, held by Corriveau, and highway commissioner, held by Fred Corriveau. Third Selectman Mark Wigley, a self-employed carpenter who has served for two years, is expected to seek a full, three-year term, as is Maxine Corriveau who will run for another three-year term on the town’s school board. All nominations and elections are held from the floor.
Beverley Corriveau said she doesn’t know the total amount that would be raised if all money articles pass, but she expects it to be about the same as last year’s $433,000 adopted budget.
Among the changes are $18,000 to go toward a property revaluation. Corriveau said the last complete assessment was done in 1980, although percentage across the board increases have been added in 1991 and 1995. Fire Department requests are up about $3,000 to help pay for additional training, costs are down slightly for tuition payments for the town’s roughly 35 students who attend SAD 44, and a reserve account for potential special education students is requested to be established.
The current tax rate is $16.25 per $1,000 valuation. The new rate will be set in mid-October.
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