NORWAY – Town Manager David Holt told selectmen Thursday night there are some uncertainties as the process to implement the fiscal 2008 budget begins.

“This year there’s not a lot of big changes. There’s not a lot of drama,” Holt said. The proposed net amount to be raised from taxes is $5,208,779, which includes a town appropriation of $2,342,005, $249,514 from the county and $2,617,260 from education funds. The overall percentage increase for the town is about 1 percent, Holt said.

The SAD 17 assessment is a big unknown, he added.

Education and town officials across the state are awaiting word from the State House as to how the school district consolidation plan will play out. While it is not expected that SAD 17 will be mandated to merge with other districts under the latest plan, nothing is written in stone yet.

What is known, Holt said, is that School Superintendent Mark Eastman has said that without any changes, the town’s assessment for the school district will have dropped slightly.

While the assessment remains an unknown factor in the budgeting process, Holt outlined recommendations he will be making, including $40,000 from the Sanborn Trust to rejuvenate the town clock and Little Red School House; $125,575 (over the next two years) to buy a new highway truck; and a $38,000 increase for the library budget that includes salary increases and fringe benefits.

Holt said the county tax assessment is up 10.6 percent, requests for rural road and in-town street improvements are $215,000, and he is requesting $7,200 to meet new voter registration standards. The budget also includes a 3 percent pay increase for town employees.

In preparing the budget, Holt said he took into account whether he would recommend a line item and whether the majority of people would want it.

“I try to listen to people and present what the majority of people want,” he said.

The budget committee will now begin meeting with various departments to review their numbers. The first meeting will be held Tuesday beginning at 7 p.m. The committee will meet with the police and fire chiefs.