must run Thursday, March 8

Road paving vote faces Upton voters
Town meeting is tonight

UPTON – The big issue at tonight’s annual town meeting is whether or not to raise $20,000 from taxes to pave 300 feet of East B Hill Road.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. the Upton schoolhouse on Mill Road off Route 26.

“That’s the major issue,” Town Clerk James Rector said by phone Wednesday afternoon. “The state gave that road to us. We didn’t want it, but they said we had to take it. So, (the paving) may get turned down, but it needs to be paved sometime.”

Rector said heavy rains hammered that section of road in 2004, and the town made repairs, then partially paved it. Then, thawing in 2005 affected water and clay under the road.

“It either hadn’t been ditched well or there was a plugged culvert, so, everything decided to slide downhill. It destroyed some of the road repair work we did the previous year,” he said.

Now, the town has reconstructed the section again. Should town meeting voters approve the paving, it could raise the tax rate from $9.90 per $1,000 of valuation now to about $12, said Rector, who is also Upton’s treasurer and tax collector.

That’s why there’s an article on the 30-article warrant to allow the town to exceed the L.D. 1 tax levy limit by $20,000 for 2007 only, for the East B Hill Road paving project.

Another article asks for $12,000 for a snowplow wing. Of that, $10,000, or whatever is available in the equipment replacement account, will be used, and the remaining balance taken from surplus, Rector said.

This year’s estimated proposed budget for the town of about 70 to 75 people is between $232,162 and $243,162, Rector said. That doesn’t include the county tax assessment, which is done later in the year.

The amount to be raised through taxation is about $144,000, if the $20,000 paving article is approved; otherwise, it will be $124,000.

If it isn’t approved, the budget represents only about a 3 percent to 4 percent increase current spending.

Rector said the proposed Upton school budget for fiscal 2008 is $91,490. It is based on recommendations by SAD 44 Superintendent David Murphy and the Upton School Committee. But the town will only raise $63,365 from taxation toward it, because the town gets a $15,000 state subsidy, an estimated credit of $9,000 from the 2006-07 budget, and $3,000 from a trust fund, Rector said.

Upton pays tuition for its elementary and secondary school students to attend SAD 44. Last year, the town had 10 students; this year, it’s eight or nine. Last year, the 2006-07 budget was estimated at $91,030, but Upton was billed for $73,386.

Voters will also be asked to OK an updated shoreland zoning ordinance, which Rector said includes recent state updates.

In municipal elections, which are done from the floor, Rector is seeking another one-year term. Open positions include a three-year selectman’s term and the same on the Upton School Committee, for which incumbent John Aron is seeking re-election. Selectman Roger Lavallee, who served the remaining year of a three-year term, is not seeking re-election, Rector said.