NEW VINEYARD – A mistake was made and an apology issued to residents here at the annual town meeting Saturday by Fay Adams, chairwoman of the Board of Selectmen.

The board made an error when it calculated the tax commitment for 2006. It’s a complicated formula used to determine the mill rate, and the result of the mistake was a lower rate than it should have been for 2006, she said.

The board chose to add an article to the warrant requesting $25,000, the amount needed to correct the tax assessment, be taken from the town’s surplus funds instead of sending a separate supplemental bill to each property owner, Adams said.

“It was an honest mistake,” she said, “not the first and not the worst. We gave residents a break on their taxes last year; now we’ll have to take it back.”

Following an inquiry as to whether the town has error-and-omission insurance, which Adams could not answer, residents passed the article.

An article on how taxes will be collected was amended when Earl Luce suggested that selectmen find a way to collect taxes owed from 2005 and before. One person suggested an amendment that would send delinquent taxpayers from 2005 and before to small claims court.

While the town voted to appropriate funds to the Barker Road construction project with the amount of $20,000 from taxation and $30,000 from revenue sharing being added to an existing Capital Reserve Account, a few people wanted a definite plan with a timetable for the project to be done. Bruce Turcotte suggested the article be amended so that selectmen would bring a plan for the project to the next annual town meeting. Feeling unprepared to take on the assignment, selectmen requested and received help from several residents, who will work with them.

Frank Forster was elected to a three-year selectmen’s term with 24 votes to 19 for Scott Webber.

Luce was re-elected road commissioner.

Three nominations for two-year terms on the Planning Board for Patricia Knapp, Richard Hargreaves and John Cavanaugh were also accepted.

State Rep. Thomas Saviello, I-Wilton, presented a legislative letter to Robert W. Kennedy, who served for more than 15 years at the transfer station, and one to Sam Webber, a Mt. Blue High School junior, who recently won gold in the state wrestling championship.

“It was an honest mistake, not the first and not the worst. We gave residents a break on their taxes last year; now we’ll have to take it back.”
Fay Adams
New Vineyard