SABATTUS – Selectmen announced Tuesday that the tax rate will remain at $25 per $1,000 of assessed property value for the 2006-2007 fiscal year.

“Originally we were looking at a mill rate increase of a half to 2 mills,” Selectman Chairperson Guy Desjardins said Tuesday night. “But we were able to keep a zero increase, and we owe a lot of that to (Town Administrator) Tracy Fabrizio and (Tax Collector) Rani Allard, who helped figure out how to keep the tax rate down.”

Last week, selectmen met in a workshop to discuss how the town could improve the tax rate. By the end of the night, the board figured on two factors that would result in no increase.

Receiving more revenue from motor vehicles and anticipated reimbursements from the state helped selectmen come to the conclusion that the town could go one more year without a tax hike.

“Some dollars will come out of the contingency account,” Desjardins said. The board is estimating that $80,000 will be drawn from the account, but the actual figure will be based on what the town receives from registrations and state reimbursement. “We won’t know until the end of the fiscal year,” he said.

Selectmen also thanked the budget committee for helping crunch numbers and again congratulated Fabrizio for her efforts in collecting back taxes.

“There is not much we can do as selectmen,” Desjardins said in regard to controlling the tax rate. “The decision is basically made when taxpayers raise their hands to vote on articles at town meeting.”

Selectmen also announced that the transfer station, public works department and the town office will be closed today from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for the town’s annual staff picnic.