NEWRY – Following a potluck supper at 6 p.m. Monday, March 5, residents attending town meeting in the Bear River Grange Hall will sit down to business.

They’ll face a proposed 2007 budget of $1,090,131, which is up $249,346 from last year’s budget of $840,785. Newry budget figures don’t include SAD 44 or county tax assessments because those are determined in June.

Selectmen recommend taking $350,000 from surplus to offset taxes. Administrative Assistant Loretta Powers said the undesignated fund balance is $1.7 million.

Driving most of the budget increase is a 2007 Kenworth pumper firetruck purchase for $225,000, which is Article 12 of the town warrant.

Powers said the truck will replace two firetrucks: a 1969 Maxim pumper and a 1980 Ford pumper.

There is $125,000 available from the Fire Department Capital Reserve Account.

Among the additional increases are:

• $182,400 in Article 6 for administration and salaries, up $52,475 from last year’s $129,945 due to salary increases and the hiring on Wednesday of David Bonney as code enforcement officer, Powers said.

• $97,500 in Article 22 for highways and bridges, up $10,000 from last year.

• $169,354 in Article 29 for sanitation, up $5,834 due to an anticipated rate hike.

Among new items in the 46-article warrant are:

• $74,361 in Article 24 as a partial debt payment on the Metz ladder firetruck. Powers said there was enough money in the account to pay it last year, but not this year. Selectmen recommend taking $5,580 from the ladder truck account and raising $68,781.

• $10,000 in Article 14 to help Bethel build a community skateboard park in Bethel to be used by SAD 44 towns, Board of Selectmen Chairman Steve Wight said.

• $8,000 in Article 35 to pay for erosion control work in the Bear and Sunday river watersheds.

• $5,000 in Article 25 for Sunday River Ski Resort’s Mountain Explorer Shuttle.

Residents can also expect a future special town meeting after an attempt at Wednesday’s selectmen meeting to include $150,000 in the warrant for highway capital improvements was squashed. Instead, Article 21 asks for $75,000, the same as last year.

Powers said the town must reconstruct four miles of Sunday River Road and its intersection with Monkey Brook Road, but bid packages on the projects aren’t due back until Thursday, March 1.

“We weren’t ready to put out a number yet, and some said it looked too scary, but LD 1 is only a control on the amount raised by taxation,” Wight said.

Regarding municipal elections, which are done from the floor, Wight, a selectman for 30 years, 25 of it as chairman, is seeking another three-year term, but no longer as chairman.

“It’s time for someone else to play the game,” he said.

Alan Fleet’s term as constable and dog officer is up, as is that of interim SAD 44 board member Bonnie Largess.