WEST PARIS – Selectmen voted unanimously last Thursday to set the 2006 tax rate at $16.60 per $1,000 of value but put the tax commitment on hold until mid-July.
Selectman Wade Rainey said the commitment was held because some financial information has not been finalized.
The tax rate is down $.70 from last year’s $17.30.
Town Manager Donald Woodbury said, “We lowered the rate slightly as we have had a $2.4 million increase in valuations and the SAD 17 school budget for West Paris decreased by about $12,000 from 2005.”
Woodbury told the board he is sending out 109 30-day notices before issuing tax liens covering delinquent taxes from 2003, 2004 and 2005.
He said unpaid taxes total $76,718.86, about the same as in the past several years.
In other business he said the town’s recycling program, which began in April 2005, generated enough savings since January to come within 7 tons of what’s needed to cover the town’s Oxford County Solid Waste Association dues for the year.
Woodbury said the rest of what’s needed will come in within the next few days.
The board voted to close the town office Monday and Tuesday, July 3 and 4, for the Independence Day holiday.
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