LEEDS – Voters at town meeting Saturday approved a motion to change the road commissioner position from an elected post to an appointed road foreman.
Jim McNaughton, who defeated Randy Curtis 204-56 in Friday’s election, will serve out his one-year term as road commissioner. The appointing of a road foreman will take effect in June 2007.
In other voting, incumbent Selectman Errol Additon defeated Laurie Marston, 160-97. Glenn Holt was reappointed as fire chief for the coming year.
In money matters, selectmen estimated a mill-rate decrease of at least 10 cents from the current rate of $21.30 per $1,000 of valuation. Administrative Assistant Jane Wheeler said Monday that the exact rate will not be determined until a townwide property assessment is completed.
The municipal budget of $808,265 for 2005-06 will be about the same for the new fiscal year, Wheeler said. The proposed 2006-07 budget of $874,000 was reduced by voters who cut $65,000 from a road-paving account.
After a lengthy debate, they voted 30-28 to reduce the amount for road paving from $200,000 to $135,000. That figure includes $60,000 appropriated from Maine Department of Transportation funds to help pay for the paving of town roads in 2006-07.
Voters on Saturday also appropriated $20,000 from the capital improvement account and raised $30,000 to place into a capital reserve account for one of three new firetrucks the town is looking to replace within the next three years.
The town agreed to continue saving for an anticipated revaluation in 2008 by raising and appropriating $16,000 to add to an existing fund of $32,000. The last revaluation was conducted in 1992, Wheeler said.
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